Durban — SuperSport United take a break off league action this weekend with a tricky Nedbank Cup test against Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila at the Thohoyandou Stadium on Friday evening.
Matsatsantsa are one of the most successful club's when it comes to the Nedbank Cup with an impressive three trophies in the last ten years, the most memorable a 4-1 final victory against Orlando Pirates back in 2017.
The Pretoria based club, however, hasn't won the cup in five years now and midfielder Jesse Donn feels it's about time they re-establish their pedigree as cup specialists and show no signs of complacency against GladAfrica Championship side TTM.
"We are a team that prides themselves on being a good cup team but we haven't won a cup in a while now so we're extremely hungry to win the Nedbank Cup," he said.
"We won't underestimate TTM, they have already beaten a DStv Premiership side in Golden Arrows, they are a team that is capable of winning the game which means it's important how we approach this game away in Venda."
For the first time in two years, supporters will be allowed back into the stadium (albeit at 50% capacity) but Donn is surprisingly looking forward to playing a very often hostile atmosphere in Limpopo.
"It's an interesting scenario because ordinarily we wouldn't enjoy the crowd in Thohoyandou but they've been away for such a long time that we are very excited to play in front of them," he expressed.
Tshakhuma themselves aren't doing particularly well in the league campaign and striker Rhulani Manzini told the media that they're looking to make the return of their fans a special day.
"Our intention on Friday is to make our supporters very happy since they're coming back to the stadium. We expect nothing but a win in this game and we hope we can wrap it up without going to a penalty shootout," he said.
Vhadau Vhadamani are in 12th position on the GladAfrica Championship log, five off the relegation zone but Manzini believes his teammates as going into this encounter very confident and will overlook the fact that Supersport play a league above them.
"We are not going to think that they are a Premiership team because we have experienced guys with young players as well."
“We are very prepared even at training, you could see everyone is pushing, so we are well prepared," he said.
IOL Sport