Pirates not focusing on league title yet – ZInnbauer

Orlando Pirates have managed to get themselves back into the DStv Premiership title race, but head coach Josef Zinnbauer doesn’t want to get ahead of himself, with the team having played more games than their close competitors.

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Bucs have played 19 games after their recent victory over Bloemfontein Celtic, which saw them climb to third place on the log with 32 points.

The Soweto outfit are just one point behind second placed SuperSport United, who are on 33 points after the same number of matches as Pirates.

Meanwhile, top of the log side Mamelodi Sundowns, have only played 16 league games, but they have accumulated 36 points.

Then comes Swallows FC and Golden Arrows who are on 30 and 29 points respectively after they both played 17 games, and they could easily catch up with the Buccaneers.

But, Zinnbauer is happy with his side being among the top three and what is vital for him is the up-coming games with the club set to take on Chippa United on Saturday.

“We haven’t played the same number of games, other teams have one less game, while Sundowns has three. We can speak about it (being title contenders) maybe in a couple of weeks. The focus for me is the next game against Chippa, then comes international games and the Nedbank Cup against Sundowns. We have to focus this week and next week, but not about the titles,” said the Bucs mentor.

“What is important for us is recovery, get the players back quickly and fresh. I hope we get a better performance in the next game. But I understand, it’s not an excuse for us. We just have to accept as coaches that not all games are the same. But the performance was not good (against Celtic), what is important is the result though. In the past we had better performance, but we would end up playing to a draw.

“I’m happy about the three points, we are in third place on the table and that’s good for us. It’s a better feeling than being in position four or five. But we know that we don’t have the same number of games (as other teams), but we have to fight to climb the table.”

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