Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro says the incident with Boitumelo Radiopane and the squad shows the comradery developed behind the scenes.
Pirates has often been accused of being a club with divisions within the squad but in recent times, the harmony has been evident, none more so than the celebrations for Radiopane netting his first goal for the club from the spot.
The 22-year-old striker has been touted as one of the future stars for club and country but has struggled with injury since being promoted to the first team after starring in the DStv Diski Challenge squad.
Relebohile Mofokeng and Mohau Nkota have become regular members in the first eleven, but Radiopane, challenging for one spot against Evidence Makgopa, Tshegofatso Mabasa and Zakhele Lepasa makes for a challenging situation for the inexperienced talent.
“The human level of the group this season is something else, to be honest, they make us feel proud almost every day with things I cannot say publically, that belongs to the privacy of the team,”Riveiro said.
“It was pubic [against Gallants], it was obvious to see how much they care about each other, knowing that the competition for the team, for players like Radiopane for example, it’s terrible, he’s competing with a Bafana Bafana striker a the top scorer of last season.
“It’s difficult to get minutes in a team that plays with one number nine so far, but the way he works every day, the dedication, the professionalism, the good soul that he is, you could see everyone was happy to see Radio on the field and have an opportunity to score and get confidence.”
The Spaniard went on to mention the other positives within the game, with Tapelo Xoki, Azola Tshobeni and Gilberto getting much-needed first-team minutes going into the schedule of seven fixtures between now and 1 February.
“We need everybody, we’re going into a very congested period of games, January, February, it’s nice to see Tapelo back also, making the first minutes after a long time out of the field,” he explained.
“Azola Tshobeni also coming on and getting some minutes, Gibele [Gilberto], also showing little by little the player he can be for the team as well, so a lot of good news around the result. It’s important [the result] but the small details around the 90 minutes there’s many positives.”
