Pirates coach Ouaddou expects more twists and turns in nail-biting title race

Orlando Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouaddou expects more twists and turns over the coming weeks in what is developing into a fascinating Betway Premiership title chase and has urged his players to keep believing.

Leaders Pirates (38 points from 17 matches) suffered a disappointing 2-1 loss to second-placed, eight-time successive champions Mamelodi Sundowns (35 from 16) at a packed FNB Stadium on Wednesday night that denied Bucs a chance to extend their lead to nine points.

The loss of the three vital home points, their first since the second match of the season against Marumo Gallants in August, means Downs have narrowed the gap to three points with a game in hand.

Faced with this situation of having to lift his players, Ouaddou said they must keep on believing because he expects many surprises over the coming weeks.

Pirates, who have another huge clash against Kaizer Chiefs in the Soweto derby on February 28, are left with 13 league matches where they are going to be pressured by the chasing pack.

“With the number of games we still have, anything can still happen,” Ouaddou said after the match.

The chasing pack includes Sundowns, Sekhukhune United (32 points from 18 games), Chiefs (30 from 15) and AmaZulu (30 from 17), who complete the top-five bracket.

“We have 13 games remaining in the league and we have to continue working and give everything because you can have many surprises in football.

“We have to fight until the end of the season and this is the message I want to give the players. The PSL is a good league with good teams, we wanted to avoid this scenario but it happened.

“It is not the end of the world and we have to keep working and believing.”

In the lead-up to Sundowns’ opening goal by Brayan León in the 37th minute, there was a major talking point after Khulumani Ndamane roughly tackled Patrick Maswanganyi in the box, who stayed down injured, but referee Jelly Chavani waved play on.

Pirates’ players expected their Downs counterparts to stop play so Maswanganyi could receive medical attention but the Brazilians continued playing and their attack ended with the opening goal.

“I have a habit of not speaking about referees. They are part of the job and they are in the same ecosystem as us,” Ouaddou said.

“I can only talk to my players. When you still have 45 minutes in the game, it is a lot of time to come back. If you saw the second half, we tried to come back by pushing and creating chances — but unfortunately we didn’t put them in the net.

“I just want to give hope and motivate the guys with the right words to keep believing in what we are doing.”

TimesLIVE