Golden Arrows coach Clinton Larsen has fired a warning at Orlando Pirates by claiming his side will be much improved ahead of their Telkom Knockout clash.
The sides faced off in the opening game of the Premiership season, with Bucs easing to a 3-1 win thanks to a Tendai Ndoro hat-trick, while Nduduzo Sibiya grabbed a consolation goal.
The 45-year-old coach, however, has backed his side to shine in the sides’ latest contest, particularly given Abafana Bes’thende have since hit form, winning five of their six following matches.
‘We’re not the same team that played Pirates in the first league game,’ Larsen told media, reports KickOff.
‘We have improved and it was a good lesson for us to learn, that first hammering by Pirates. We made a lot of defensive errors and we came back and worked on them and since then defensively we are very solid.’
Larsen praised the defensive resilience of his side since but has admitted the form of Bucs striker Ndoro remains a concern.
‘We are one of the best [defensively] in the league and we want try and continue with that,’ he said.
‘This is an opportunity to seriously compete for silverware; you win this game you find yourselves in the quarter-final and how close could it be to being in the final, so we want to try and go all the way if possible.’
The coach nevertheless maintains his side is still undergoing a process of transformation.
‘We still believe we are a work in progress and we will get better as the season progresses and I don’t think we’re gelling as nicely as I would like right now,’ he concluded.
