Real Kings planning to emulate TS Galaxy's fairytale run to Cup title

Real Kings are planning to emulate fellow lower tier side TS Galaxy's fairytale run to the Nedbank Cup title but the KwaZulu-Natal club intends to do things differently.

Galaxy pulled off one of the biggest shocks in South African football when they beat Kaizer Chiefs 1-0 in the final at Moses Mabhida Stadium last year to become the first low tier side to win SA’s version of England’s FA Cup.

Kings will edge closer to repeating the feat when they face Bidvest Wits in the quarterfinals of the competition at the Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium in Durban on Friday.

The lower tier side's coach Mike Lukhubeni said his charges are capable of emulating Galaxy but they will not attempt to copy everything that their national first division colleagues did to beat Chiefs in last year’s final.

“Not really‚ TS Galaxy had their own way of doing this and we as Real Kings we’ve got our own way‚” Lukhubeni told reporters in Pietermaritzburg.

“If we’re going to put ourselves under pressure and try to do what Galaxy did‚ then we are going to make mistakes.

"So we have to worry about the Real Kings and we have to do it our own way.

“If we can go through‚ we can go through. We can’t put ourselves under pressure because of TS Galaxy.”

Kings beat Motsepe League outfit Passion FC 3-2 in the last 32 and fellow national first division campaigners Mbombela United 2-1 in the last 16 to set up a meeting against the two-time winners of this competition.

“PSL teams are always easy to prepare against because they don’t want contact and man-marking‚ so when you play them they’re not that much difficult‚” said Lukhubeni.

“They (Wits) are going to give us a very big problem because if they were coming to us after winning some games‚ it was going to be easy playing against them.

“But if you’re coming to us with some knocks here and there‚ they’re not easy to play against because they’re coming at full force.

“So if they were winning they’ll come to us a little bit relaxed.

"So we’re expecting a very difficult game‚ but we as Kings have got our own way of way of doing things.

“We’re not going to worry about Wits‚ they must worry about use. They’re coming to us and so they must worry about our house.”

Home advantage will be a big decider in this match‚ according to Lukhubeni.

“That’s very important because I’ve got a belief to say that when I’m playing at home‚ you can’t beat me in my house and I can’t run to the neighbours‚” said the Kings coach.

“I have to protect my house. If somebody jumps into my yard and wants to fight with me‚ I can’t make a noise and say ‘hey neighbour help me’.

"No‚ no‚ no‚ I need to stand up.

“So Wits are coming to our house and they must feel the pain.

“At home I must be a winner; if I can’t win away I have to take a point.

“But if I play home it’s a must win and there’s no compromise on that one. It's a must win.

“So if we’re playing at home and we must win.”