Riveiro delighted as Pirates survive ‘intense’ clash to beat SuperSport

Jose Riveiro lauded a ‘proper football game’ after Orlando Pirates beat SuperSport United 3-1 on Saturday night at Orlando Stadium to reach the MTN8 semifinals.

In front of a superb home crowd, Pirates were taken all the way to extra time by SuperSport in a thrilling quarterfinal, but goals from Olisa Ndah, Monnapule Saleng and Evidence Makgopa were enough to keep the Buccaneers on track to lift the MTN8 for the third season in a row.

“It was a proper football game, it was intense, tough, and amazing to play our first game at home where I think it (the stadium) was almost full. I thought we deserved it (the win) it was a good way to start the season … I am very happy with the performance,” Riveiro told SuperSport TV after the match.

Shock equaliser

The Buccaneers coach added that his team had to recover from the shock of Vincent Pule’s equaliser for SuperSport just after half time, the former Buccaneers winger levelling the scores at 1-1.

“We shook a bit after it was 1-1, I think we had memories of the last game we played against them (SuperSport) here (the two sides drew 1-1 in their last league game of last season).

“They equalised in the second half (of that match), so it was not a good memory for us. But after five or six minutes (of Saturday’s game) we had a good chance, and that gave us the hype to come back and we had a lot chances”