With their focus on surpassing Cape Town City and Kaizer Chiefs to catch up with Royal AM on the DStv Premiership log for a chance to qualify for the CAF Champions League, Orlando Pirates will have to be autious about not denting their record from recent seasons.
Depending on the results in their upcoming matches, the Buccaneers could be at risk of missing out on finishing second on the table, judging on how inconsistent the team has been this season in getting positive results.
Prior to getting recent back-to-back league victories against SuperSport United and Sekhukhune United, Bucs had only achieved that feat only two times this season; firstly, when they defeated Swallows FC and Chippa United in September, as well as in December against Marumo Gallants and AmaZulu respectively.
With Royal AM flying high at the moment, having won five from their last seven matches in the league and with the resurgence of Cape Town City who have won four matches in a row, Pirates will have to improve on consistency in getting the results as they will also be attempting to progress further in the CAF Confederation Cup after qualifying for the quarterfinals.
Since the 2016/17 season, after they finished 11th on the log, which was one of their worst positions in history, Pirates have not finished outside the top three in the last four seasons.
In the 2017/18 season, the Sea Robbers bounced back in style to earn a place in the Champions League after finishing in second place with only a five-point gap between them and Mamelodi Sundowns who are also this season's favourites to win the title.
Moving forward, in the 2018/19 season, Bucs were behind winners Downs by only two points, while in the 2019/20 campaign they were third behind the Brazilians and Amakhosi respectively.
Downs and AmaZulu finished above Ezikamagebhula last season, and with six matches remaining in the current campaign, co-coaches Mandla Ncikazi and Fadlu Davids have a big task of ensuring that the club's records remain intact.
While Thwihli Thwahla, Amakhosi, the Citizens and Bucs are all vying for the all-important Champions League spot, mathematically all the teams in top eight could still cause an upset in deciding who will qualify, depending on the results in the remaining matches of the season.