It is not very often that I write my column on a Saturday morning, and it is also not every day of the week that we stand on the edge of a semi final of a cup competition against the newly elected league champions.

Throughout last night I was tossing and turning at the prospect of facing Sundowns on Saturday afternoon, my restlessness was not out of worry it was more excitement than anything else. We have worked hard to get to this stage of the competition and we will work even harder on Saturday afternoon to ensure that our season carries on till the 20th May.

The ABSA Cup threw up some exciting encounters for us and from the start many people wrote us off; from our first game against the defending champions Supersport United we were not given much chance. Our team has proven through the length and breadth of the competition so far that we have the mettle and resolve to fight till the end.

There can be no denying the fact that Sundowns are a good team and Miguel Gamondi and Neil Tovey really turned things around for the better, players like Manqoba Ngwenya and Sandile Ndlovu have really blossomed since the pair took over the reigns.

Once again we enter today’s game as underdogs which really suits us as we play better when we are written off. Our mindset entering this game is a positive one, we are confident of moving into the final because we know what we are capable of achieving and that we can play better than our best when called upon.

Also there have been a lot of mind games being played by Sundowns saying that various players are not available through injury etc. I do also know that Dillon Sheppard is suspended for today’s game. We should not get drawn into feeling a false sense of security as they still have another 31 very able and capable payers who can put on a show for them.

As I end off, all I can say is that the team has worked hard all week for this game and we firstly do not want to disappoint our supporters, ourselves and the club chairman so we are going to give everything we have to ensure that we win the game.

I know I did previously say that history means nothing; we would like to continue up holding Chiefs proud record against Sundowns in Cup competitions and get back our crown as the cup kings of South Africa. Team news ahead of the game against Sundowns is that we have one serious casualty in the form of Fabian McCarthy who injured his hamstring during training this past week.

See you all at the Palace

Ernst Middendorp