A win for Cape Town City over Free State Stars tonight (7.30pm kickoff) will see the Citizens move up four places and into the top three in the Premiership standings.
They are seventh, while Stars are fourth-bottom on the 16-team table.
The previous league clash between the sides ended 2-2 in Bloemfontein.
City should come out on top at the Cape Town Stadium if they play to their full potential, something they have failed to do on a regular basis.
Coach Benni McCarthy would not like to see more points being squandered playing lower teams, as was the case against Baroka FC on Saturday and Chippa United (1-1) in December.
What should have been six points gained from these two skirmishes they dominated throughout ended up being two, and that may prove telling when the final sums are tallied.
As for the threat posed by Stars, City assistant coach Vasili Manousakis said all the signs pointed to a polished performance from his charges
“There are three points up for grabs and we want them badly.
“The hard work has been done at practice, and now we must execute the game plan.
“We’ve studied the way Stars are playing at the moment under their new coach (Nikola Kavazovic), and have seen ways where we can get the better of them,” he added.
“But there are no easy games in this league. For the win, we have to do what we do well and do it from the get-go.”
At the back-end of City’s practice session at Hartleyvale on Tuesday, the focus was on the set-piece because the players tasked with taking free kicks and corners of late haven’t been accurate in their execution.
Attacking midfielder Ayanda Patosi took most of them in the last game against Baroka FC that ended 2-2 at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday night, and he would be the first to admit that he could have supplied a better service to his target players.
🚨MATCH DAY ALERT 🚨
Be part of Monate Mpolaye tonight yes its #MonateMpolayeNight. Buy your ticket @Computicket R20.
🔥
⚽ 💙 v Free State Stars
📅 16 Jan | 🕞 19H30
🏟️ Cape Town Stadium
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— Cape Town City FC (@CapeTownCityFC) January 16, 2019
“It’s an area of our game that can win and lose you games,” Manousakis said. “Expect improvement here.
“We’ve also worked on our transitional play. We’re always slick with our build-ups, and we want to keep that way progressing into the oppositions half with our midfield and forwards brought into play without any pause in momentum.
“Gelling as one, that’s the key to it all.”