Riveiro hails Pirates’ ‘best 45-minutes away’ and signs of consistency

Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro hailed his team's “best 45-minutes in an away game” that clinched a 2-1 DStv Premiership win against Lamontville Golden Arrows in Hammarsdale outside Durban on Sunday and a rare run of consistency.

The Buccaneers went to six matches unbeaten in the league, five of those wins and three of those victories consecutively.

A team that has dropped a disappointing amount of points in a campaign in which they hoped to challenge trophy machines Mamelodi Sundowns a lot closer than last season’s 16-point gap as runners-up has shown recent signs of a league revival to be in third place. Five of Bucs’ seven wins from their 14 league games have come in their last six fixtures.

Bucs had the lead through Patrick Maswanganyi’s 30th-minute penalty but softly conceded a spot-kick of their own for Ndudozo Sibiya to equalise in the 45th.

Riveiro’s team took the game by the scruff of the neck after the break. They could have earned more than man-of-the-match Karim Kimvuidi’s 56th-minute winner, Ndabayithethwa Ndlondlo missing an open goal and substitute Thembinkosi Lorch having a headed goal incorrectly overruled in added time.

“It’s a good one to start the game the way we did in a difficult place on a difficult pitch. To keep a high rhythm is difficult here,” Riveiro said afterwards.

“But I think we managed to be in control for 25-minutes until we got the penalty. After getting the lead we played a bit casually for a short space of time and in that moment they punished us with an unnecessary penalty.

“But I think we came back quite strong in the second half. We played good football,  probably our best 45 minutes in an away game this season in the league.

“There were plenty of chances. We shouldn’t have been under stress at the end of the game.”

The coach said his team will accumulate more wins if their performances remain consistent.

“I’m happy with the performances. The results we cannot control.

“Today I thought we played an excellent game, but what would have happened if they scored in the last minute of added time? The result is still the same.

“So the consistency must be in the performances and the intention, and then we try to control the results as well as possible.

“We should have finished the last 15-minutes with maybe a two or three-goal advantage and not really under stress. But it’s a scoring game, it’s 2-1 and we’ll take it.

“But the most important for me is the performance.”

Pirates' final two games before the Christmas and Africa Cup of Nations break are against SuperSport United at Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday (5.45pm) and Stellenbosch FC at Orlando Stadium on December 29 (8pm).