Sekhukhune United defender Daniel Cardoso will be eyeing his first trophy when they face Orlando Pirates in the Nedbank Cup final at Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Saturday (6pm).

Cardoso is yet to win a piece of major silverware in his career. After starting his professional career with Free State Stars, his seven-year spell with Kaizer Chiefs coincided with their barren spell as far as trophies are concerned.

He came close to winning the Nedbank Cup with Amakhosi but lost to TS Galaxy in the final in 2019. He has a chance to end that on Saturday against the Buccaneers and he hopes he will finally win it.

“I’ve been to many cup finals as you know and always coming out second best, not the best feeling. It is always a bitter pill to swallow,” Cardoso told the media yesterday.

“I’m hoping this one will guide the boys to lifting it. I think it will be nice for myself, for the club, for the players. Everyone is positive and you can see the energy has been great.

“I think personally, for myself, my whole career not lifting a cup will be sad for me. As I am, I’m getting older after 30 years. They say you are older in this game here in SA, which I don’t understand.

“But yeah, I would love to lift this one. I think it will be nice for the club, especially only being in the league for the second season.”

Babina Noko will go into the match as underdogs and the 34-year-old believes this will work to their advantage as they have no pressure.

“As underdogs, you go there with no pressure. There will be many fans for Pirates, so we are going there with no pressure," he said.

“It’s some of the boys’ first final, the nerves will be there, but they are good. Nerves always give you a little bit of a tingle to give you that extra. I think it’s a good thing going there as underdogs as we have been with all other games too.

“We just need to show that extra commitment, that extra hunger and it also depends on the day how hungry we are and go there with a positive attitude and mindset.”