Sekhukhune United captain Linda Mntambo says they have set their sights on lifting the Carling Knockout trophy, in a bid to etch their names in the history books of the ambitious club.

Babina Noko will travel to KwaZulu-Natal to take on Richards Bay in the round of 16 of the Carling Knockout after the FIFA international break, with the competition set to commence on the weekend of 18-20 October as per the PSL calendar. 

Since their promotion to the elite league after being crowned the 2020/21 second-tier champions, the Limpopo club has established themselves as a Betway Premiership outfit, finishing outside the top eight in their debut season only. 

Despite their good performances in the league, Sekhukhune is yet to lift a trophy in the topflight but came close after losing the Nedbank Cup final to Orlando Pirates in the 2022/23 season, and Mntambo sees the Carling Knockout as an opportunity to win one. “I think going into every season we want to win silverware; the team hasn’t won silverware since coming into the premier [top-flight] division, ” said the 35-year-old midfielder. 

“So definitely [we want to win silverware], bringing a trophy to Sekhukhune also puts our names in the history books of the club because we would be the first ones.” 

The former Pirates midfielder went on to highlight the progress made by the club since he signed for them, stating that they still want to improve considering the recruitment of some big names in the off-season as he is optimistic about the future. 

“But now it just shows where we are as a club, first season [when I joined] we finished seventh, last season we finished fourth, obviously we want to improve. We don’t want to be where we were last season and improving means we have to put in the hard work, ” Mntambo noted. 

“So, as a club you can even see with the inclusion of the players that we’ve just brought in to strengthen what we already had, so I think it’s just exciting times. We didn’t start well, especially in the MTN8, but again we crashed out in the continental football.” 

Though Babina Noko has had a poor start to cup competitions, Mntambo has expressed his satisfaction with their form in the league and insists that they will go all out to win the club its first trophy in the top flight. 

“But I think we’ve done quite well in the league, getting seven points from our three games, so we just want to keep it that way, ” he said. “If we don’t win it [Carling Knockout], our opposition also doesn’t win it, but this being a cup game, we want to make sure that we win the match.” 

Lehlohonolo Seema’s men are currently third-placed on the Betway Premiership standings with seven points, two behind Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates respectively, who have both won their opening three matches.