Great midfield battle expected at Orlando

The last time the two teams met in Tshwane last year, Jali came out tops over both Pattison and his teammate Ezrom Nyandoro before being stretchered off the field in the second-half due to injury.   The Bucs midfielder is expected to go into the game on Saturday in high spirits after winning the Man of the Match award in Bafana's international friendly against Kenya on Wednesday whilst Pattison, who was also in the South African squad, only enjoyed a few minutes of the game after coming on towards the end of the second-half.

_quote   Speaking to KickOff.com, Pattison says it will be important for his team to focus on all 11 Pirates players rather than individuals.   "There is no doubt about Jali's talent. He has proved many times that he is a quality player but we are going there not to play against one player but 11 players. I only returned back to training on Thursday but I must say preparations for the game against Pirates have gone pretty well and everyone is looking forward to the match.   "Even though beating Pirates is a must in order to close the gap between us, it will also be important that we win our other remaining games to stay in contention of winning the League title," Pattison adds.   The Brazilians go to Soweto tomorrow still minus striker Katlego Mphela, but Zimbabwean international Nyasha Mushekwi has been a revelation for Sindowns.   Pattison is also hoping to see more supply for Mushekwi on Saturday.   "He has proved his worth as a striker and with good supply is capable of scoring many more goals for Sundowns this season."