The Buccaneers begin defending one of their three titles on Friday when they welcome Bloemfontein Celtic to the Orlando Stadium for the opening Top-8 clash of the year.

Pirates were undefeated at home in the Premiership last season, but Sangweni hopes the Sea Robbers do not put too much stock in that type of statistic.

"This match will be very interesting. Celtic lost here to us last season and obviously they will do everything to try stopping us from beating them again," he told Bucs' official website.

"But for us, the spirit and winning mentality reigns supreme in our dressing room, so we will try working hard this week and try to have a good game against them.

"Home games are usually the trickiest because everybody expects you to win. We will be playing in front of our supporters so we have a duty to win.

"Unfortunately in football home advantage counts for nothing - we will go onto the field as a unit and try to get a good result.

"Home advantage only counts when a team uses its chances on the day of the match, but before kick off its zero-zero and both teams have the same opportunity to win the match.

"And since this is a cup game, we cannot afford to concede early because that will make our job very difficult."

Pirates kick off their MTN8 title defence against Phunya Sele Sele on Friday night, with kick-off scheduled for 20:00.