Africa-Press – South-Africa. One game before the goal and another one after.”
That was a perfect summary given by Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro after their costly 1-0 defeat in a Betway Premiership match against Sekhukhune United at Orlando Stadium on Wednesday.
Indeed, the Buccaneers had controlled the game and created all the clear-cut chances before they failed to deal with Keletso Makgalwa’s corner kick which was headed in by Nigerian defender Tresor Tshibwabwa in the 58th minute.
In a myriad of chances wasted by Pirates before Sekhukhune silenced the Orlando crowd two stood out.
In the first half Relebohile Mofokeng put right-back Bandile Shandu on one-on-one with Sekhukhune goalkeeper Renaldo Leaner but he chose to tap the ball over the bar.
Just before Tshibwabwa scored in the second half, Kabelo Dlamini’s corner kick reached Pirates defender Mbekezeli Mbokazi inside the box, but the teenager too blasted the ball over the bar.
Riveiro said had Pirates taken their chances the result of this match would have been vastly different.
“We had the game totally under control in terms of possession and territorial control,” said the Spaniard.
The loss left a big dent in Pirates’ chase for the league title as they are now 12 points behind runaway leaders Mamelodi Sundowns who are now set to win the championship for a record eighth successive season.
The defeat, a few days after Pirates were knocked out by Egyptian club Pyramids FC in the semifinals of the Caf Champions League, comes at a bad time as Riveiro’s team are gearing up for the Soweto derby against Kaizer Chiefs at the FNB Stadium on Saturday.
“If we think about the game before the goal, I think we were better than Sekhukhune but in the end we were not good enough even to deserve the equaliser,” said the Pirates coach.
Trying hard not to make excuses about playing Sekhukhune a few days after their huge loss against Pyramids, Riveiro said it goes without saying that there is some fatigue in his squad after playing more than 40 matches in different competitions this season.
“But that’s (fatigue) something obvious,” said Riveiro. “The schedule is the same. If Mbokazi had scored, we were going to win the game. I will tell you yes, the schedule is so hectic, but you understand what I mean, it is what it is.
“Winning, losing or drawing it doesn’t matter, we cannot change the schedule. We’re going where they call us to play. We go and we try our best. There’s nothing we can do. We try our best to compete in this scenario.
“My team tonight competed very well before the goal with all the circumstances. But it was not good enough in the last part of the game.”
Riveiro added that Pirates will have to improve their defending in their last seven league games. Bucs’ poor defending of the set pieces in the last two games against Pyramids and Sekhukhune saw them conceding crucial goals that lost them both games.
“Obviously the set pieces is an element that we need to (fix). And we’re doing, we’re trying to get better and we’re trying to minimise our deficit in those situations like every other team.
“I think during the whole season we were quite solid dominating those situations, but it’s true that for whatever reason in the last (two) games we’re suffering a little bit more. Sometimes the opponent is more accurate, but I think it’s something we have our hands on every week. It’s not something that we should panic about, we’ll get it right.”
Pirates will face Chiefs on Saturday without defender Nkosinathi Sibisi who got a red card five minutes before the end of Wednesday’s game.
The Bafana Bafana defender will also miss Pirates’ league tie against Lamontville Golden Arrows at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Tuesday but should be back in the Nedbank Cup final against Chiefs, also in Durban, on May 10.
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