Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro is not worried by his side’s loss to Stellenbosch FC in what was their first league defeat of the season.
Devin Titus’ first half goal was enough to end Pirates’ perfect start to the season in the PSL, having won a club record seven straight games prior to Sunday’s match.
Defeat sees Pirates surrender top spot to Mamelodi Sundowns, although both sides are on 21 points, with the Brazilians enjoying a superior goal difference.
Riveiro is, however, not surprised, saying his team had a few chances that they failed to utilise, while crediting Stellenbosch for employing a good gameplan.
Jose Riveiro rues missed chances
“It was the game we expected, we had a good start to the match, good 15, 10 minutes, with opportunities through [Thabiso] Monyane and [Deon] Hotto in the box,” Riveiro said after the match.
“They threatened early in the match as we planned to do, we didn’t capitalise, it was difficult to play advantage in the central corridors, the field was extremely dry as usual in the daytime – we weren’t precise enough in [those areas].
“They found Titus in a transition and he finished the action really well to make it 1-0, we tried everything we could, we had good chances to equalise, to not get away with zero points, it wasn’t zero point performance today.
Will Pirates respond against Al Ahly?
“But as I said many times, it’s a scoring game, they scored one goal, we didn’t, three points for Stellenbosch – they fought in an incredible way for every action, for every metre and in the end they get three points, no dramas, nobody in invincible.”
Pirates have a tough game coming up next with Egyptian giants and holders Al Ahly visiting them next in the CAF Champions League and Riveiro says his team have no time to feel sorry for themselves.
“We got our first defeat in the league and now it’s time to recover tonight, start again, we have a big game on Saturday [against Al Ahly] and we now prepare for that – nothing else, we keep going,” he added.
