LAMONTVILLE Golden Arrows go into this afternoon's match against Jomo Cosmos at Chatsworth stadium with their confidence high, after defeating their neighbours AmaZulu 2-1 in the MTN8 semifinal first leg on Sunday.

"My players understand that we have to focus on today's game," said Arrows coach Manqoba Mngqithi, under whose tutelage Arrows have been playing some brilliant football.

"It's going to be tough coming up against Jomo (Sono, Cosmos coach and owner) I have the utmost respect for. We also have a very critical match on Saturday against AmaZulu in the second leg of the MTN8, so it's going to be tough on everybody concerned."

Mngqithi said they will be without Kamohelo Maboe and Joshua Nimo, who are both injured.

Cosmos are still sporting battle scars from their time in the National First Division. Sono has made it known that having twice campaigned in the lower division, it will not happen a third time.

Their season opener against Platinum Stars ended in a goalless draw, but Sono can take heart in the fact that his players did not disappoint and were just unfortunate not to have collected maximum points.

"It's going to be difficult against Arrows. We are playing against a very good side with a good coach, and it is not going to be easy at all," he said. "I was happy with how we played against Platinum Stars last week and I'm not disappointed at all not to have won the game even though we had chances to win it."

Sono said new sensation Bongani Theletsane has a bright future, if he keeps his feet on the ground.