Chiefs are set to travel to the Eastern Cape to square off with the ABC Motsepe League outfit at the Sisa Dukashe Stadium on Sunday afternoon (15h30 kick-off).
This will be their sixth match in 22 days, before they round off the month with a league encounter at home to SuperSport United three days later.
However, Middendorp is not of the view that playing a lower-tier outfit is an opportunity to rest some key players that have featured in all four matches over the past two weeks, but instead wants to send a strong message of their seriousness in the competition.
“I think we’ll be sending the wrong message if we try a different goalkeeper and different players that have never been in the squad [in recent games],” said Middendorp.
“This will already show that we take the match lightly, and we don’t. Of course, we have some players who at the moment we need to clean up with a little bit.
“One player is definitely not available for us – Mario Booysen, for example, is getting some specific treatment on an issue he’s had for several weeks.
“Of course, we are not taking him but each and everybody else that is fully available will be on the field, and we’ll send the right message by fielding the so-called ‘best XI’ and showing that we take the match seriously.
“It’s also a bit delicate to send a message to your own team by saying, ‘Oh, you take a rest today; you take a rest today; you take a rest today.’ Then you’re already in a difficult situation, where the wrong message is sent even from the technical side. So, we won’t do this.”