Pirates coach Ncikazi rues missed chances as he reflects on ‘sad’ Caf Cup final loss

Orlando Pirates co-coach Mandla Ncikazi described the team’s 5-4 loss on penalties to RS Berkane in the final of the Confederation Cup as a sad loss at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium last Friday.

This is after the Soweto giants played better than their opponents and created a number of scoring opportunities, but failed to capitalise on the chances created.

The game eventually went into extra-time after finishing at 0-0 in regular time. Pirates then conceded through a penalty in extra-time, but a good fighting spirit saw Bucs claw their way back into the match, thanks to Thembinkosi Lorch fortunate goal.

Ncikazi is looking at forgetting what transpired in the final, stating that the team’s problem this season has been finding the back of the net.

“A loss like this is very sad, as coaches we have a responsibility to lift up the players, we have a league match on Tuesday. And these are the same players that must play. It has not been a good season for our team and the reasons are the ones you saw today where a match is dominated like we dominated,” said the Bucs co-coach.

“But, the outcome at the end is not equal to how you played. Players will come back, Pirates will come back and Pirates can play much better than they did on Friday. It is a big brand and we just have to prove that.”

Lorch, who brought Pirates back in the game, ended up missing the penalty, which gave Berkane the advantage to win the tie.

The midfielder, however, was voted as the man-of-the-match for his great performance overall which saw Bucs dominate the North Africans for the most part of the match. 

Pirates will now shift their focus back to the DStv Premiership as they host Maritzburg United at the Orlando Stadium on Tuesday.