The Sea Robbers will do battle against red-hot old rivals Kaizer Chiefs in the Telkom Knockout Cup quarter-finals.
Amakhosi's tails are still high after the 2-0 triumph of Mamelodi Sundowns last weekend, while the Buccaneers bounced back from the defeat to Stellenbosch with a 1-0 victory over Highlands Park on Tuesday evening.
However, Chabalala believes there is still hope for the Buccaneers, knowing how unpredictable derbies can be.
"What I can tell you is that the derby differs from the other games you know," he tells snl24.com/kickoff.
"A derby, it's a motivation on itself you know, I'm just scared because now the confidence is very low at Pirates. Not because of the game we have just played, but since the departure of [Milutin] Sredojevic it affected the team. But let's hope going forward the guys will raise the bar.
"As for the consistency, it doesn't exist there. For a team like Pirates you can't play a win, lose and draw...not that's unacceptable, but because it's a derby I think and hope we'll see a different game on the day you see. The team that we'll want it more I think they will win. I think the goals will be galore. Yes Chiefs beat Sundowns yesterday but the derby, the vibe on its own will play a role...In my opinion...I'm not saying Rhulani [Mokwena] is not a good coach, but I think the timing was not okay.
"Rhulani was supposed to take over when there was already something on the table (trophy) because now the pressure is too much considering that they won nothing last season. And now him also he's got no excuse like 'I'm still building' no! He was there. He was acting as if he was doing all the job there you see, he was always on his feet and not sitting on the bench...for now my answer as I told you is that I'm worried about the confidence since the departure of Sredojevic. I don't know the vibe in training. This is not the Pirates that we used to see playing, fighting Chiefs till the end...I'm worried about the confidence, but let's hope the confidence will be high because it's a derby. We need them to go through until the final."