Kaizer Chiefs have for the past three years held township bragging rights over their bitter rivals Orlando Pirates, as one would have to go to the 30th October 2004 to find the last time that Pirates managed a win over Chiefs in any official league or cup match.

Since that Pirates win in the 2004 – 2005 season, the teams have met five more times with three of the games turning out to be draws, with the Amakhosi having the upper hand in the other two. With both those victories coming in the 2005 – 2006 season, during Pirates win in 2004 – 2005, Chiefs goal on that day came from Arthur Zwane and he would like for nothing more on Saturday than to hit the target against a team he once played for.

For the 34-year-old Zwane who is Soweto born and raised, knows all about the joys of putting of winning against Pirates, he would like to see a three year unbeaten run against Pirates go closer to becoming a four year one.

Winning beforehand

Like a number of Chiefs players, the return of Muhsin Ertugral at the helm of the Amakhosi has given Zwane a boost and he has been improving match on match. And his upturn in form has seen him earn a starting place in Chiefs last seven matches in both the league and Telkom Knockout Cup competition. As the week progress, Zwane believes the team have been putting in the pieces to the puzzle, and are close to completing the puzzle which is their preparation for Pirates.

He added “the week leading up to the derby is such that all though you go to bed early every night you can only dream about one thing and that is the game on the weekend. Every time over the last couple of seasons that I have played against Pirates especially when we have won I felt that we won the game with our work during the week, I feel the same way again as I believe that the coach and his team have been thorough over the past couple of days in training and I do think that a win on Saturday is in our grasp”.

Modise Pirates key man

Zwane has also praised the recent performances of Pirates midfielder Teko Modise who has been brilliant both for club and country. Arthur believes the tricky and nimble midfielder will be looking to continue on Saturday from where he left off on Tuesday evening after his man-of-the-match performance with Bafana Bafana against Canada.

Arthur said of Modise, “over the past couple of weeks Teko has really shown the country what a wonderful player he is, he played brilliantly well for the national team on Tuesday and he showed what a deadly finisher he is. On the other hand we can not make the mistake of concentrating only on him as Pirates have a whole lot of other players who can do the business; he is a danger man but not the only player on the park in a Pirates shirt”.

Final preparation

According to Zwane Saturday’s run in with Pirates is the perfect way for the Amakhosi to prepare for next weekend's Telkom KO Cup Final against Mamelodi Sundowns, a match against Pirates has all the necessary ingredients to be just like a cup final.

“A game against Pirates has the intensity, the pressure, the crowd and the atmosphere that makes the game like you participating in a cup final” added Zwane. He went on to say, “this game on Saturday and every game against Pirates is like a Cup match, winning it feels as though you have won a Cup final just with out the trophy.

Once you have beaten Pirates it gives you an amazing lift and you feel after that as though you can conquer any opponent, with a cup final the following week a win on Saturday will be most definitely what we looking for”.