Pirates coach Riveiro enjoying the ‘nice fight’ with Stellies

Jose Riveiro is enjoying the ‘nice fight’ for second-place in the DStv Premiership between Orlando Pirates and Stellenbosch FC.

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With only three games to go before the end of the season, only one point separates the two teams.

Stellies currently occupy second spot with 50 points following their goalless draw with AmaZulu on Wednesday. The Buccaneers, who beat Chippa United 2-0 on the same day, are third with 49 points.

Although he concedes finishing second behind league champions Mamelodi Sundowns is not in their hands, Riveiro says Pirates will give Stellenbosch FC a run for their money.

“Stellies are still ahead of us by one point and that’s the reality and they’re still depending on their own results,” said Riveiro. 

“For us, we have to continue putting pressure on them and push as much as we can. It’s going to be a difficult race for all of us, but at the same time it’s a nice fight,” he added before praising Stellies for their efforts this season. 

“Stellies are having an excellent season and whatever happens at the end of the season, it’s still an exceptional campaign for them. But we are going to try and achieve our objective, which is to finish second or as high as we can.

In Wednesday’s game against Chippa, Riveiro was happy that they shut out the Chilli Boyz. 

“Being solid and not conceding is a big plus for a team that has the capacity that we have in attack. It’s difficult to keep a clean sheet against us,” said Riveiro. 

Even though Riveiro always demands the best out of his squad, the Spaniard admits that his players are also suffering from fatigue and cannot play well all the time.

“We understand that it’s been a crazy run and the players are humans so they feel the fatigue and today, like I said, it was a difficult match.” he said. 

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“As a football fan, once you see a team performing at a certain level, you want that team to perform like that all the time. But as a coach, you need to always understand that it’s not always possible (to perform well all the time).”

Pirates will be at home at Orlando Stadium again this Saturday against Richards Bay and the kick off time for that game is 8pm.