Pirates’ Riveiro vows to fight on after shock Richards Bay defeat

Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro has not given up hope of finishing the DStv Premiership season in second position.

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The Buccaneers blew a chance to move second behind league champions Mamelodi Sundowns when they suffered a shock 1-0 loss to Richards Bay at home in Orlando on Saturday evening.

With second-placed Stellenbosch FC having lost 2-0 to Moroka Swallows earlier in the day, a win against the Natal Rich Boys would have seen the Buccaneers move second and lead Stellies with two points with two games to go before the end of the season.

Riveiro, however, believes that all is not lost for Pirates and they can still fulfil their dream of playing in the Caf Champions League next season, adding that they have been in a similar position before and they managed to achieve their goal.

“This situation is not new to us, we’ve been through it before where we had to win all the remaining games. We had the chance [to win the game] today because we had complete control of the situation, but we couldn’t. But we have two more games to rectify the situation and I think the [winner] of the second position will be decided on the last day [of the season],” said Riveiro during a post-match conference.

Riveiro added that they will do an objective analysis of the game against Richards Bay to see what needs to be rectified before their next game against TS Galaxy in Mbombela on Saturday.

“Like I said, we have the opportunity to do an objective analysis of the game, and show the players, we are still performing the same way as in the previous seven games where we got the results.”

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The Spanish coach admitted that the loss was a hard pill to swallow, but added that there is no time for them to feel sorry for themselves because not all is lost for the Buccaneers.

“The only difference today, we didn’t score, we didn’t manage to put the ball in the net like in the previous games, but everything else, the concentration, the pace, the desire, the level of aggression – everything was there. That’s why I said, in my opinion, it’s a defeat that won’t affect us at all, there’s not going to space to feel sorry for ourselves.”