Orlando Pirates co-caretaker coach Mandla Ncikazi was pleased to progress, as Pirates beat AmaZulu 1-0 in the Nedbank Cup round of 32.
The Buccaneers progressed to the round of 16 of the Nedbank Cup, thanks to Deon Hotto who scored the only goal of the match.
Ncikazi felt his team deserved the win, but admits he wished they’d taken their chances and won by a bigger margin.
“Excited that we went into the next round, excited for the hard-working players,” Ncikazi said in the post match presser.
“Matches after the transition, the first official match after the break are always very difficult.
“But I thought we controlled the game well especially the first half. We created enough chances, even second half, to win clearly.
“If there’s one wish that I had, I wish we would have taken more chances, two zero, three zero then it gives you a breather so that you can play correctly.
“Having said that we work for our luck, penalty for AmaZulu, which Mpontshane did well in stopping, but I still think we’re the better team. I still think we played better. Just happy that we are through into the next round.”
“It’s a real test and a good test,” he said when asked by iDiski Times about it.
“I can imagine playing a team, we played AmaZulu our last match before the break, and you play them now, it’s not always easy.
“And playing a team in the same league, PSL, at least you have an idea of where you’re standing in terms of fitness, in terms of where we want to be going.
“There’s only positives from the match. You wouldn’t read much if we’re playing the team from ABC Motsepe, in terms of where is our standing.
“We want to build from this. There’s a tougher fixture that is coming ahead of us.
“We have to prepare for CAF. We have to prepare for the league match against Arrows on the 16th. So at least it gave us a measure of where we’re standing.
“There is a lot of work to be done, but I’m happy that we are where we are right now.”
