Orlando Pirates can afford to lose to Mamelodi Sundowns and still win the league title insists key striker - 'Winning PSL would mean a lot'

Despite starting the season well, Orlando Pirates are slowly losing the race to the defending champions Mamelodi Sundowns.

Masandawana have 58 points from the 22 matches played, four games more than the Soweto giants.

It is not what many Bucs supporters had anticipated after 10 matches into the season.

On Sunday, Pirates will host Sundowns at the FNB Stadium in the second meeting of the Premier Soccer League.

The initial meeting ended 4-1 in favour of Masandawana who will be aiming at completing a double.

A win for Downs will increase the gap to 21 points and potentially dent the Buccaneers' hopes of chasing the league crown.

However, if the opposite happens, then the gap will be reduced to 15 points, and with four games at hand, the chances of going all the way will still be strong.

Despite the aforementioned facts, Tshegofatso Mabasa insists that a possible loss to the reigning champions will not dampen their quest to win the PSL.

“I don’t think our title chances depend on this game against Sundowns,” the striker said ahead of the match.

“We still have a lot of games to play, we still have a lot of points to fight for and anything is possible in football. But we know that on Sunday we have to go out there and fight. Hopefully, we get all three points, which would take us in the right direction if we want to win this league.”

“We want more, we want success for this club, it’s a big brand and we have to keep on performing. There’s a lot of pressure from outside, but together as a group, we believe we can achieve many more things this season.

“[winning the league] would mean a lot, honestly. We’ve been creating history already with this wonderful club and that will remain in the history books. We have to leave a legacy, we have to leave our mark as the current players," Mabasa concluded.

This is surely going to be a massive game for the two teams in their race for the title.

Despite Mabasa's utterances, it is a fact that the Soweto giants can't afford to lose the game if they are serious about challenging Masandawana.

Their fans are also desperate for a win after a frustrating goalless draw against Stellenbosch in their most recent outing.