Riveiro pleased with Pirates’ scrappy win over Magesi

Even though he was happy with the win and the clean sheet, Riveiro admitted that they were lucky to walk away with three points, saying they could have easily gotten a point to nothing from it.

Relebohile Mofokeng’s brilliant goal gave the Buccaneers a narrow 1-0 victory over the ten-man Magesi side at the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane on Sunday.

READ MORE: Mofokeng sizzler helps Pirates edge out ten-man Magesi

The win moved Pirates back to within three points of Mamelodi Sundowns in the Betway Premiership standings, with a game in hand on the defending league champions.

“The most important thing is usually the result and today (Sunday) was really difficult circumstances to play football for both teams, not only for Pirates, let’s be fair. Probably not our best game, not the best entertainment we could give the fans,” said Riveiro during the post-match interview.

“They came here in numbers to support the team. But I’m happy that we managed to keep a clean sheet and a good performance in the first half to take three points, to keep pushing, keep running, and keep fighting.

“Just one way to close an exceptional 2024 for the club, this team, this group with one more victory. Last year with the same game, same performance, we could finish this game with a 1-1 or even worse, so the team is competing very well,” added Riveiro.

Pirates will now turn their attention to the CAF Champions League where they host Stade d’Abijan at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto on Saturday.

The Buccaneers are currently third in Group C behind Al-Ahly with five points in three games. They trail the defending champions by two points.

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Mohau Nkota, who has netted two goals in this year’s competition is confident that Pirates have enough quality to go all the way to the final of the CAF Champions League.

“We believe we can reach the final, but we need to stay humble and focus on winning every remaining game while improving ourselves,” said the Pirates striker.