Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro has praised the conduct of Evidence Makgopa who finally had his first start for the club, 15 months after joining the Buccaneers.
Makgopa, 23, was named in Riveiro’s starting XI for the first time and was involved in both goals, winning the penalty before Thapelo Xoki’s opener before setting up Kermit Erasmus for the second in the 2-0 win over Cape Town Spurs.
Riveiro, who usually doesn’t talk about individual players, took his time to praise Makgopa’s conduct in training and insisted the striker has a huge potential to improve.
“I do an exception, it’s his first game with us and a player who has been with us for 15 months and coming into the starting XI for the first time today,”
“Having the behaviour that Evidence had during that time, I can only say it was excellent, a true professional.
“As a coach I’m so happy to see him finally getting the chance and it mean that everything is done because the competition in the team is terrible in that position also, but I’m happy that finally he managed to make it into the starting XI to contribute.
“Due to his conditions and his age he’s a player that can only improve. He will only improve in the next months.
“Obviously if he manages to play frequently, his improvement is going to be more evidently for everybody.
“Like I said he has interesting condition and he’s a very humble guy, working very hard every day. In that way the only result for him is only improvement, hopefully we see that improvement very soon.”
