Riveiro urges Pirates to move forward after shock Magesi defeat

Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro has urged his charges to quickly move past the disappointing loss to Magesi FC and focus on Tuesday’s Betway Premiership clash against SuperSport United at Orlando Stadium on Tuesday night (kick-off is at 7.30pm).

This comes after the Buccaneers suffered a shock 3-2 loss to the newly-promoted top flight side in a Carling Knockout last-16 clash at the same venue on Saturday afternoon.

READ MORE: Magesi knock Orlando Pirates out of Carling Knockout

Prior to this game, Pirates had not suffered defeat in 11 games in all competitions this season and Riveiro has admitted that being knocked out of the tournament was a bitter pill to swallow.

“The feeling of getting eliminated especially here at home is not nice, it goes without saying I guess. But we have to accept the loss and forget about it quickly because we’re playing again on Tuesday, SuperSport [United] is coming. And we have to get those three points by any means necessary,” said Riveiro during the post-match conference in Orlando.  

Riveiro unhappy with Pirates finishing

Riveiro feels that with better finishing his side could have easily won the game against Magesi.

“I’d say we were quite good in the first 30 minutes of the first half. We were controlling the rhythm of the match with several opportunities… clear opportunities inside this period. I think even after the cooling break, we kept playing the game in areas we wanted to,” Riveiro said.

“But in a space of 12 minutes in the first half, the opponents suddenly lead 3-0, in two situations the first two goals were unacceptable. It cannot happen, but it happened.”

ALSO READ: Pirates’ Riveiro rues missed chances in shock loss against Magesi

“I think we created quite a lot, we hit the post three times in the second half if I’m not wrong, we scored the first goal but it was obviously too late after 86 minutes, one more goal made it 3-2… we were close, really close to finding the equaliser but it was not possible.

“Football is a scoring game, we can speak about the 30 attempts at goal and the three shots of the opponent, but they won 3-2, so congratulations to Magesi, they are in the next round and we are not,” concluded Riveiro.