‘If we won I would still tell you the schedule was difficult and hectic,’ said the Pirates head coach.
Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro refused to blame his side’s hectic schedule for their surprise Betway Premiership defeat to Sekhukhune United on Wednesday evening.
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Pirates hosted Sekhukhune at Orlando Stadium just five days after a heartbreaking Caf Champions League semifinal loss to Pyramids.
Pirates fall further behind
And they slipped to a 1-0 defeat to Babina Noko, seriously denting their chances of catching Mamelodi Sundowns in the title race.
Pirates are now 12 points behind Masandawana, even if they do have two games in hand.
“That is something obvious,” said Riveiro, when asked about the impact of Pirates’ schedule at the post match press conference.
“But winning or losing, the schedule is the same.
“Today, if a chance for (Mbekezeli) Mbokazi goes in at 0-0, we probably win.
“(But) in the next action they score a goal and win the game. If we won I would still tell you the schedule was difficult and hectic.
“We cannot change the schedule, we are going where they call us to play. I think I have answered this question 2000 times this year. There is nothing we can do. We competed very well before the goal … but we were not good enough in the last part of the game.”
Riveiro felt his side ultimately deserved to lose because they had not done enough after falling behind to Tresor Tshibwaba’s 58th minute strike.
“It was one game before the goal and one after. Before they scored I thought we were totally in control in terms of possession and territory,” added Riveiro.
“We were not really accumulating enough entries in the Sekhukhune box, we didn’t have enough shots on target but I think the first half was clearly for us.
‘Not really well organised’
“In the second half the feeling on our side was that a goal was coming. We had a much better beginning to the second half. We had chances from set pieces and then they got one corner and got the lead.
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“After that we were not the team we should be and want to be. Individuals were trying to create chances but we were not really well-organised.
“If I think about the game before the goal we were better than Sekhukhune but after the goal we were not good enough to even deserve an equaliser.”
