“WE WILL BE READY FOR SWALLOWS”, SAYS TSHEGOFATSO MABASA

Tshegofatso Mabasa insists Orlando Pirates will be ready for Wednesday’s visit of Moroka Swallows after losing to Sekhukhune United at the weekend.

Mabasa spent time on loan at Babina Noko last season and was with the Dube Birds for the first half of this campaign, where he netted six times.

He scored his first goal for Bucs this term in the 2-1 loss at the Peter Mokaba Stadium at the weekend that saw Sekhukhune overtake Pirates and move into third place on the DStv Premiership standings.

Only goal difference separates the two sides and a win over the Dube Birds at Dobsonville Stadium could see Pirates climb back into second place, depending on other results.

Reflecing on scoring for Bucs only to lose the match, Mabasa explained in the Citizen: “It is a bittersweet feeling.

“I thought it was a great game of football from our side, with the amount of opportunities we got, we were just unfortunate we only managed to bury one.”

The former Bloemfontein Celtic frontman added: “If we continue like this people will see what we are about as a team. We will continue to strive. I know today it didn’t happen, that is football, it was one of those games.

“There is not time to lick our wounds. It is back to work again, we will continue to give our all and hopefully we can rectify our mistake and get all three points on Wednesday.

“We will be ready for Swallows.”

While Bucs lost their last game, a relegation-threatened Swallows secured a much-needed win in their race for Premiership survival with a 1-0 victory over Cape Town Spurs to move into 13th place.