‘Chiefs feel the pain of the last Soweto derby’

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Bernard Parker

Kaizer Chiefs attacker Bernard Parker admits that the Soweto derby loss to Orlando Pirates at the back of their minds going into their Telkom Knockout semi-final clash.

Giovanni Solinas’ side succumbed to a 2-1 defeat in the first Soweto Derby of the season, and Parker acknowledged that the loss against their rivals will serve as motivation in their all-important clash at the Moses Mabhida on Saturday afternoon.

‘The good thing about this game is that we still feel the pain– the memories are still fresh in our mind. We still know how we did on the day,’ he said at a press conference.

‘In a way, now that we drew them in the semi-final, we have to double our efforts and go in with fire in our eyes when facing them again.

‘We are going all in – we made a commitment. The funny thing about it is that we know what to expect from our opponents, how they play and how they are going to come at us. We took a lot of positives out of the last derby, and this is going to be an interesting one.’

The former Bafana Bafana international said that the Chiefs camp are up for the game, with the players needing no extra motivation for a game of this magnitude.

‘We all know what’s at stake, and us as players have made a commitment that we are going all in this weekend.

‘Everyone is aware of how big this game is, and it’s a must-win for us. This is a cup match – the last one was a league match. The history of Kaizer Chiefs, we have the advantage of always getting a cup.

‘But for the last three years, we went through a bit of a slump, and it’s now up to us as players to turn things around – how we can get back to our winning ways,’ he concluded.

The two sides meet at the Moses Mabhida Stadium with kick-off set for 3pm.

Photo: Backpagepix