MARITZBURG United coach Roger de Sa has promised to come out guns blazing against Golden Arrows in their Nedbank Cup Last 32 clash at Princess Magogo Stadium in Durban on Sunday (3pm).
This will be the two teams’ second KwaZulu-Natal derby in the space of eight days.
The first derby on Saturday went in favour of Abafana Bes’thende who won the match 1-0.
De Sa has revealed he will be using his strongest side to make sure they walk away with the honours in this one.
“We definitely take this game seriously,” he said.
“We will give it our best shot. There will be no sitting back – and I won’t be resting any players. At this point we can’t afford to do that, we must play every game to win. That is what we intend to do.”
United had better ball possession than Arrows last weekend but couldn’t capitalise on it, especially going forward.
But the coach hopes this will be a thing of the past, as he expects his charges to launch an all out attack.
“We’ve have to improve in the areas where we were lacking,” said De Sa.
“We only had two shots on target in that match and that needs to improve. We also need to try to give away fewer balls and defend well in set-pieces.”
The former Bidvest Wits, Orlando Pirates and Ajax Cape Town mentor said they would welcome back Andrea Fileccia on Sunday.
The former Free State Stars marksman has only made one appearance for his new team this season. He’s been battling injury since joining United at the beginning of the season.
Now finally injury-free, De Sa said he might give Fileccia a run in this derby: “Fileccia is back and has been training with the team. The only problem he has is match fitness. But now that he is injury-free he will hopefully participate in this match.”