May 18 2019. This date may be forgotten by many of their fans, but Kaizer Chiefs coach Ernst Middendorp will not forget it any time soon as it was when the club suffered their biggest humiliation.

On this day, the Soweto giants lost to minnows TS Galaxy in the Nedbank Cup final in Durban.

"What happened on the 18th of May is history. Forget about it. We have started a new season," Middendorp said.

He may want to make people believe that he has forgotten about it, but the fact that he has memorised the date suggests otherwise.

Amakhosi will return to the competition as they face second-tier side Royal Eagles at the FNB Stadium on Saturday (6pm).

Chiefs are a different team this season, where they are top of the Absa Premiership. With them in form, Middendorp insists that they are no longer haunted by that defeat.

"You can't lose anything that you don't have. We haven't lost anything. They [Eagles] are a totally different team [compared to Galaxy]," he said.

"Why should I go into this and go backwards? Life is fantastic and life is so good. Being 61 has allowed me start with the positive stuff.

"Let's look forward to having a good game and getting more of the positives. Probably there were other miserable days in the past last season but that's not my focus. We respect every PSL team and every NFD team. I don't need to go back into time when results didn't go your way."

Despite being at home against the GladAfrica Championship outfit, the Soweto club will not be taking any chances and will field a strong team.

"I will stick with the core of the players. Two or three [changes] are always a discussion but I have no reason to change the team," he said.

"We need these games and competition for our first selected players that we have trusted in the past months."