Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro has hailed the club’s supporters for the packed stadium to commence the season and opened up on the pitch conditions at their home venue.
Pirates opened their season with a 3-1 win after extra-time over SuperSport United that appeased the packed-out eSgodini on Saturday evening.
It provides a special atmosphere with the Buccaneers faithful who notably rallied behind their squad even when SuperSport equalised minutes into the second half via their former favourite Vincent Pule, scoring against them on debut after six years at the Soweto giants.
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“You’re right [the fans pushed us at Orlando Stadium], it’s fantastic to play our first game at home, I don’t know if it was sold out, probably close, which is not frequent here in Orlando, funny enough,” Riveiro said.
“It says something about what the fans are feeling right now for these boys, and then the role they played during the game was crucial. I didn’t feel any pressure even with the SuperSport goal, the people were patient with us, which is important, especially for the young ones to feel that they are behind us in difficult moments.
“It gives us an extra boost, and like I used to say from the first day, it’s nice to have them around, play the game together, it’s definitely an extra advantage that not every team in this league or in this tournament will have, it’s good news for us.”
The pitch, especially in the goalkeeper area, has often been not up to standard but this weekend, it was notable that it didn’t favour them as they looked to play their usual fluent passing game against a direct Gavin Hunt outfit who were finding plenty of joy.
However, Pirates managed to overcome the obstacles and found three goals from Olisa Ndah after a well-worked corner kick routine, Monnapule Saleng, with another impressive set-piece leading to a goal and Evidence Makgopa’s strike as SuperSport chased the game.
“We try to… to be ourselves even though the scenario [of the pitch] made things difficult in some moments, in the build-up process, we knew it,” Riveiro said.
“The only thing I can say is that… our performance [had] value, within the circumstances, I’m not even here to criticise, the field isn’t ready because the winter has been tough and it’s been difficult, but for sure people will still work on it in the upcoming weeks.
“We have one week without games here, we’re going to Mauritius in two weeks so they will have time to fix it, it wasn’t in the best conditions, but it will be very very soon.”
Pirates now travel to the Islanders for their first preliminary CAF Champions League clash against CNaPS on Sunday afternoon for the 13h00 kickoff.
