AJAX Cape Town coach Jan Pruijn believes his side's technical ability can help them overturn a poor away record against Free State Stars when the two meet in tonight's Absa Premiership fixture at Charles Mopeli Stadium in Phuthaditjhaba.

Ajax, languishing in 13th place, have not won away against Stars since 2009. Pruijn, officially appointed interim coach on Monday to replace Maarten Stekelenburg, believes his team can turn that statistic around despite the Capetonians being notoriously poor travellers.

Steve Komphela's Stars ended a six-match winless streak with their 4-3 victory on penalties over Bidvest Wits at Milpark in Saturday night's Telkom Knockout quarterfinal, which ended goalless after 120 minutes.

"Recent results against Free State Stars are not in our favour but I believe that we have the technical ability to win this game," Pruijn said on his club's website.

"The quality of my team is very good but a big-match mentality is what is needed to win this game."

Pruijn has overseen a 0-0 home draw with Mamelodi Sundowns and 1-0 away win over AmaZulu since stepping up from assistant coach after Stekelenburg was fired.

New Black Leopards coach Ian Palmer, who replaced Sunday Chidzambwa last week, takes charge of his first match when his side host Platinum Stars at Peter Mokaba Stadium. Stars are coming off a 4-0 home thrashing of Free State Stars.