SuperSport United captain Dean Furman insists their clash against Mamelodi Sundowns will play a vital role in their race for the Absa Premiership title this season.

Matsatsantsa recently saw their 19-match unbeaten run brought to an end after falling to a 1-0 defeat against Baroka at the Mbombela Stadium.

Stuart Baxter’s side have won nine out of 21 matches play so far this season, and occupy fourth place in the Absa Premiership standings with 37 points, seven points behind leaders Cape Town City.

Furman expressed his disappointment about the defeat to Bakgaga, but says he was delighted at the way the team responded in their Nedbank Cup tie against ABC Motsepe League side KwaDukuza United last week, as well as the 0-0 draw in their CAF Confederation Cup play-off first leg against Barrack Young Controllers.

The 28-year-old admits that he was disappointed by their recent defeat in the Absa Premiership, but is delighted with the way the team responded following their victory over KwaDukuza in the Nedbank Cup.

‘We’re bitterly disappointed with our last [league] game, losing to Baroka, especially after the run we had been on and not losing since the first day of the season,’ Furman told KickOff.com.

‘But that’s football for you, that’s sport for you, it goes up and down. For us it was about recovering quickly and we got a good victory over a difficult side in the Nedbank Cup.

Furman says Matsatsantsa are well prepared for the Tshwane derby and are looking forward to claiming all three points, in the hopes of closing the gap at the top of the table.

‘The boys then went over to Liberia and brought back a positive result for us in our qualification for the CAF [Confederation Cup] group stages.’

‘Come Thursday night, we’ll be ready. We know how important this game is for our Absa Premiership aspirations. We want to get back up to the top of the table and we’ll definitely be going for the win,’ he concluded.

SuperSport United will be hoping to bounce back when they take on Mamelodi Sundowns in the Absa Premiership on Thursday.

The match at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium kicks off at 18:00.