Baroka FC head coach Dan Malesela has revealed what he is is more concerned about ahead of the much-anticipated Motsepe Foundation Championship's last round of fixtures on Sunday.
The Limpopo side will be away to second-placed University of Pretoria, with two points separating the two teams in the standings.
A loss for Baroka, therefore, might see them drop out of the play-offs, while a draw might see both through, provided fourth-placed JDR Stars lose to Maritzburg United, who are placed fifth.
"It's all about mental preparedness because these types of games can bring anxiety to players," Malesela said when contacted by KickOff.com during the week.
"At the moment, we are just trying to manage their minds, we are trying to keep them as calm as possible. But I think as a human being, you are always placed in places where you can survive. Sometimes things become easy and you don't train yourself to take pressure, you know.
"I don't want to blame anything that happened before in our last game, we will just go with what is happening now. We always play to win because if you play for a draw, you will then end up losing the match, but if you play for a win, you have a big chance of ending up with a draw," adds the former Chippa United mentor.
Malesela reiterates that a win is non-negotiable at Tuks Stadium against a side that came so close to winning promotion two seasons ago, falling at the play-offs hurdle, and will be desperate to have another go this season.
"I don't remember a match where we played and I felt we performed poorly. We have to be confident going into Sunday's game, otherwise why go to the match? We are trying to keep it calm, we are trying to keep it normal, you don't want to change a lot.
"Somebody was saying to me: 'Why are you not leaving for Pretoria early so that the boys can acclimatize?' My response was: 'By doing that, then we would be doing something that is not normal to us'. But we also have to respect the fact that we have opponents, we know they are going to fight, but we will fight as well," says a confident 'Dan Dance'.
The well-liked coach says he will stay true to his principles of playing football that is pleasing to the eye even as the situation may demand a win-at-all-costs approach.
"In my vocabulary, there is no 'ugly football'. We will continue to try to entertain and at the same time try to get results. We can't go there and play rough and tumble, you know.
"But that said, we will be very cautious in our approach on Sunday. We have to be tight defensively, deal with what they throw at us, and take it forward."
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