Why Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro is ‘trying to forget the past’

Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro admitted no team dominated the match in their 2-1 MTN8 quarterfinal victory over Royal AM in Durban, but said he was happy to see his team scoring two goals and defending their lead.

Goals in either half by Vincent Pule and man-of-the-match Thabiso Nonyane at Chatsworth Stadium saw Bucs beat the Durban team for a second time within a week in Durban. Pirates also grabbed maximum points in a DStv Premiership tie against Royal at Moses Mabhida Stadium last week.

“There were moments for both teams during the 90 minutes. Of course when you get the advantage and it’s a knockout game the only thing is to take all the risk,” Riveiro said of Saturday’s match.

“They [Royal] had the capacity to do that because they have quality players. It’s difficult to perform on this field [Chatsworth], it’s very tricky. The moment you start to accumulate free kicks and fouls and corner kicks, you feel you’re losing a bit of control.

"But we did it well and we’re going to learn a lot from it. I don’t think we can say we were not 100% dominating our opponents but they also didn’t dominate us.”

Riveiro was happy to beat Royal for the second time within a week in Durban. Bucs' results against Royal are in contrast to how they performed against them last season, when they drew both league matches at home and away.

“I don’t know what happened last season. I was in Finland last season,” Riviero, who previously coached in Finland, said.

“Playing this season here with this group of players with new objectives and a new spirit, we’re trying to do things well.

“I don’t think about what happened last season when we’re facing an opponent. It’s a new game and that’s what I’m trying to do, forget the past.

“We scored two today and I think we have chances to score even more. That’s what we need to analyse at the end of the game. We have to know we were there to create six, seven or eight chances and that makes me feel optimistic about the future.

"As much as we create more we’re going to score more. There’s no discussion because [against Royal] we scored two.”

Pirates, who top the Premiership after winning three, drawing two and losing one league match, will return to KwaZulu-Natal on Sunday to face Maritzburg United at the Harry Gwala Stadium.

Bucs have been drawn to meet Mamelodi Sundowns in the MTN8 semifinals.