Orlando Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouaddou has lauded his new signing Oswin Appollis, who put up a Man of the Match display on Saturday evening to help the defending champions beat his former team Polokwane City 2-0 in the MTN8 quarter-final.
The 23-year-old got his first goal in the 12th minute thanks to Boitumelo Radiopane's inch-perfect pass. The South Africa international was then fouled 20 minutes later, and the referee awarded the Soweto giants a penalty.
Patrick Maswanganyi stepped up and beat Kenya international Brian Bwire from 12 yards out to seal the deal. It was Ouaddou's first competitive game since taking over from Jose Riveiro who ditched the Soweto giants for Al Ahly.
‘Appollis took the Man of the Match Award because of the team'
“I’m happy for him, we have known Appollis for a long time. When he is surrounded by good players, we can even see the best of him. But not only him, I want to congratulate my boys. He took the Man of the Match because of the collective,” he told the media.
“I think it’s a big victory for us, but it’s not finished, we have to go through [the semi-final]. The target is to win the MTN8 cup. Orlando Pirates [have won the last three editions]. Definitely, we have to win it. It will not be easy, but we will give our best to win it. I think it was a good game for our fans as well; we wanted to give them a good game. We have been training in Spain for a long time, but now they can see a little bit of the team. But it’s still something to improve; not everything was perfect, but at least I’m happy with the first game,” he concluded.
Bucs will take pride in the way they played their first game, dominating from the first to the final whistle.
