Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro was left stunned and confused after his side lost 1-0 to Cape Town City FC, in their Betway Premiership clash at Cape Town Stadium on Wednesday.
A 74th minute Darwin Gonzalez strike was all that separated the sides, in a contest which the visiting Pirates dominated. In fact, Patrick Maswanganyi missed a penalty for Pirates three minutes before City scored the winner, which made the loss for The Buccaneers all the more bitter.
The Soweto Giants reeled off 14 shots to just the seven of City, and also had the lions’ share of possession with 59% of the ball.
Afterwards, Riveiro stopped short of saying City didn’t deserve the win.
“I cannot do an analysis here right now,” he told SuperSport TV.
“It’s actually quite difficult to explain the final result, I think the difference between both teams was too big this time.
“With all respect for the game of Cape Town City, it’s difficult to explain that we lost this game the way we did it.”
However, the tactician conceded that his side’s inability to score proved costly.
“But this is football, they managed to put one ball in the net, we didn’t but a very complete performance, we did everything to win the match, not much that you can do.
“So, to the next one.”
New City coach Muhsin Ertugral has now beaten both Soweto teams - Kaizer Chiefs and Pirates - since he took charge.
Riveiro also was left frustrated in the manner his side conceded, as City quickly stole possession and scored on the counter.
“It’s just pure bad luck in this case, did you see the way they score?,” said Riveiro.
“It’s something not normal. Again, like I said, we were Pirates tonight, we played the football that we played before.”