SIMBA head coach Fadlu Davids has informed Miguel Gamondi and Young Africans that they “will be ready” for the derby when the two sides resume their rivalry in the Community Shield on Thursday.

As NBC Premier League champions, Young Africans, go into the opening game of the season as favorites and have won two of their last three encounters with Simba. However, Fadlu is anticipating a stern test nonetheless.

Simba displayed a clinical second-half performance to beat Rwandan champions APR in a pre-season friendly on Saturday evening at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium.

Debora Fernandez Mavambo and Edwin Balua were on the scoresheet for Davids’ side against the Rwandan champions.

In his post-game reaction after the 2-0 victory, Davids expressed satisfaction with the team’s second-half performance, though noting there is still a lot of work to be done.

“We have to be really clear about where we are in the third week of pre-season. APR have played a tournament already, they are five weeks in so they are at a better physical level than us. We saw it in the first half, slow passing, too lethargic, not moving the ball quickly enough.

“It was just about sitting down at half time and fixing tactically what we had to do: move the ball a bit quicker, try to get behind them because, in the first half, we were in control but did not create enough. It was about putting them under pressure and I am really happy with what I saw but there is so much work to do,” he said.

Davids acknowledged his team is not yet ready to play the way he wants them as they are finalizing pre-season but he believes they will be ready mentally to go pound for pound against their arch-rivals.

“We are only on week four of pre-season so we are not ready for 90 minutes that’s for sure. 90 minutes in relation to how I want to play but we will be ready for the derby. We know it is mentality. Are you strong enough mentally to be able to go against them?

“They have played some competitive matches as well in South Africa so it’s not about us blaming our fitness, we are going to have the right mentality to go take them pound for pound and we’ll go at them.”