Thalente Mbatha and the rest of Orlando Pirates players will have to get right all coach Riveiro's instructions to successfully chase Mamelodi Sundowns this season.
Image: AFP
The window for a league challenge is shrinking with every match played by both contenders. After Pirates suffered their fourth loss of the season, a 2-0 defeat away to Marumo Gallants, they now trail the log leaders, Mamelodi Sundowns, by a hefty 18 points, despite having four games in hand.
The Buccaneers haven’t helped themselves by dropping too many points against sides they should beat on paper, especially while competing against a Mamelodi Sundowns side that has been racking up points with ease.
Their crunch encounter in a fortnight has become a must-win match for the Sea Robbers, if they are to still have a realistic chance of chasing down the defending champions. But before then, they will face two tough away fixtures, against Chippa United followed by a trip to Stellenbosch FC.
Pirates were missing coach Jose Riveiro due to his suspension after picking up four yellow cards throughout the season. In his absence, assistant coach Mandla Ncikazi took over the reins and believes his side were unlucky to end up on the wrong side of the result.
“I thought we were in control before we conceded the goal; it was a tame set piece by our standards, and I don’t think we deserved to lose the first half because we created enough chances to come back, but it didn’t happen.
“In the second half, we dominated the way one would expect us to play, and then we conceded from a transition. But honestly speaking, according to the game, we were not supposed to lose.
"If you count the number of chances created, we should have won but it’s a game of football; chances created and not scored are not good enough. We lost the match, and I also thought the intensity of the opponent was a bit higher than ours, but I wouldn’t point fingers at our rhythm.”
Pirates dominated possession but couldn’t break through a stubborn Gallants defense, which was impressive under new coach Abdeslam Ouaddou. Ncikazi added that some of their game plans weren’t executed perfectly on the day.
“According to our game plan, we wanted to get behind their defense, but we didn’t do that enough. I thought we gained some balance in terms of that, and we still created chances, but our offensive side wasn’t at its best, hence we conceded so many transitions.”
Asked if the league is out of reach, Ncikazi insists the chase is far from over—there’s still plenty to play for.
“I wouldn’t want to look at it that way; some teams have played 20 games, which is four more than us. I wouldn’t want to even look at it that way; let’s just win our next games, and I think the race is still on.
"We’ll take it one game at a time, and we will continue doing that until told otherwise,” he concluded.