Former Bafana Bafana skipper Neil Tovey says South Africa needs to attack if they are to beat Nigeria in Saturday's do-or-die 2010 African Nations Cup Group Four qualifier at the EPRU Stadium on Saturday.

South Africa have to beat Nigeria to keep the door to Angola — in 2010 — open.

"A draw is no good to us. We need to win to give ourselves a chance to qualify for the next round. We cannot do that if we sit back and allow Nigeria to come at us," Tovey told Sapa.

He added: "We need to get on top of Nigeria from the start and get our fans on top of Nigeria and make sure we use our home ground advantage as best we can."

The Nigerian squad arrived in Port Elizabeth on Tuesday, minus four key players who are based in the English Premiership.

They are skipper and leading striker Nwankwo Kanu of Portsmouth, Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel, Everton defender Joseph Yobo and Newcastle United forward Obafemi Martins.

But Tovey does not see their unavailability as a bonus for Bafana. In fact, he believes it could even work against South Africa.

"That is not good news as Nigeria have a huge pool of players," said SA's 1996 Afcon-winning captain. "The players replacing those four will be determined to play well and impress. So missing four top stars will not weaken Nigeria significantly."

Meanwhile, Tovey has criticised the decision by the South African Football Association (Safa) to stage the match at the EPRU Stadium.

The Premier Soccer League (PSL) earlier condemned the EPRU pitch and have prevented newly-promoted Port Elizabeth-based PSL club Bay United from playing their league matches there until the condition of the pitch is improved.

"Playing on a cabbage patch will not help Bafana," declared Tovey. "The Bafana technical team should have told the officials who decided to play in PE to get knotted and should have played the match at altitude in Gauteng.

"I cannot understand the reasoning behind playing such an important game on a pitch that is not suitable," concluded Tovey.