Four goals but Pirates coach not happy

Pirates registered their first win of the year after playing to a 2-2 draw against Highlands Park in their opening match of the second round.

Goals from Happy Jele, Vincent Pule, an own-goal by Phetso Maphanga and substitute Kudakwashe Mahachi saw the Buccaneers remain second on the Absa Premiership League standings and increased their points tally to 31 after 17 matches.

Despite the victory, the Pirates coach wants his charges to up their game ahead of their first match in the Caf Champions League group stage clash against Zimbabwe’s FC Platinum in Bulawayo on Saturday.

“We were a bit shaky at times, and we put two important players, Mahachi and Justin Shonga, on in the second half to kill the game,” said the Bucs coach during his post-match interview.

READ: Masutha blames defensive errors for Pirates loss

“I personally believe the result was not really a true reflection of the game, it was much better than the performance. We need to critically look at ourselves and we now have three days before we fly out to Bulawayo to play our Caf Champions League match.”

The coach admitted the club is having some trouble in defence, which has conceded four goals in the last six matches and said they have to find a solution to fix the problem.

“In two matches we have scored six goals, which is good standards, but in the same moment we need to be fully aware that conceding four goals is below our standards.

“We are conceding and it is a concern we need to address as a team and work as a team. The intention of having clean sheets is our dream. These are not problems we are running away from. We try to address them and improve as time goes by.”

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