South African side Orlando Pirates believe they are still in the contest after being held to a 1-1 draw by Etoile du Sahel in the home leg of their African Confederation Cup final on Saturday.

The Buccaneers now head to Tunisia for Sunday’s return as the underdogs, but mindful of their own history in which they faced a similar situation and triumphed exactly 20 years ago.

On that occasion Pirates were held 2-2 in the first leg of the decider for the African Champions Cup against ASEC Mimosa and ended up triumphing 1-0 in the return in the Ivory Coast for a famous victory.

“The class of ’95 almost experienced the same situation as us at the moment,” Pirates defender Happy Jele said after Saturday’s draw.

“They conceded two goals and then they went to ASEC Mimosa and scored one goal, so it’s all about belief.”

Pirates were in front on Saturday thanks to a thunderbolt of a strike by Thamsanqa Gabuza, only to allow a soft equaliser in the final four minutes for Etoile captain Ammar Jemal.