The Nedbank Cup has already seen several PSL teams knocked out by a lower league side – with Moroka Swallows the latest to crash out following a 2-1 loss to AmaTuks on Wednesday night, and Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro has warned his side to stay focussed ahead of their weekend game against Hungry Lions.

The Buccaneers come into the game on the back of a Soweto Derby win over neighbours Kaizer Chiefs and Riveiro is aware that the game can impact his players negatively.

Speaking to the media ahead of the weekend’s clash he said: “The distractions after the derby are many.

“People are still talking about this and that, and it’s normal, but we need to already visualise ourselves playing the next game and put the derby behind us,” he cautioned.

“The FIFA break is also coming, and players will be going to national teams, so there are a lot of factors and elements that I suppose can be distractive, and when you are distracted, you don’t compete at your best.

“So, it’s our responsibility to make sure they are on the right track by keeping them motivated and understand the responsibility for us on Saturday because we want to be in the next round.

“We want to defend the trophy, so we must keep our feet on the ground,” he said.

“The opponent may be playing in the second tier, but we know the story about these games. So we will approach the game with maximum respect.

“Games are coming in thick and fast, but fortunately we had almost a week to prepare for this one.

“It’s another opportunity for us to play in Orlando and perform in a better way than the last time we were there in a league fixture,” he said, referring to the 1-1 draw against Cape Town Spurs.

Orlando Pirates versus Hungry Lions kicks off at 6pm on Saturday evening.