Golden Arrows are planning to inflict more misery on wounded Kaizer Chiefs when they meet in the DStv Premiership match at Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium on Saturday (3.30pm).

Chiefs are still smarting from their 0-5 aggregate defeat to rivals Orlando Pirates in the MTN8 semi-final and will be desperate to bounce back to winning ways.

But Arrows captain Matome Mathiane says they cannot allow Amakhosi to get back to winning ways at their expense. “We are well aware that they have not won in a while and that they will be coming at us, it won’t be an easy game,” Mathiane told Sowetan.

“They are still a big team, and we will give them the respect they deserve. But going to play Chiefs, we know that they will want to bounce back to winning ways at our expense. That’s something we don’t want a team that has not been winning to get back to winning ways against us. So we are well prepared to play against them.”

The defender said their plan is to press them high as he believes Chiefs will struggle to cope with the players they have.

“We play with high intensity, and we press. The moment we will start pressing, they will have a serious problem,” Mathiane said.

“They don’t have those players they used to where they will keep the ball for a long time. The system they are playing now...they are using long balls, so we are a team who plays possession football.

“We are well prepared. We have a small squad, a team that is rebuilding after we lost a lot of players. We are also confident that we are not going to lose at home because we don’t usually lose at home, either we win or draw.”

Abafana Bes'thende have started well under coach Mandla Ncikazi with one win and two draws in their opening three matches.

Mathiane believes the new players added a different dimension to the team. “It is energetic team players who were not playing last season, now they are playing and are doing well for the team.

“We understand the system coach Mandla Ncikazi wants us to play, and we’ve been doing very well with him. He didn’t change much from the way we were doing last season. We are still playing the very same system, and he believes more in the youngsters.”

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