Delight for Ertugral as CT City weather Pirates storm

New Cape Town City coach Muhsin Ertugral won for a second time since taking over at the struggling club as they beat Orlando Pirates 1-0 at home on Wednesday to leap up to sixth spot in the Betway Premiership.

They were in 13th position when Ertugral took over.

Darwin Gonzalez scored the game’s only goal – as he did on Sunday against Kaizer Chiefs – after Pirates’ Patrick Maswanganyi missed a penalty.

A delighted Ertugral was full of praise afterwards for both his own side and their opponents, who had much the better of the play.

“We knew it was going to be a very, very tough one. I think Pirates are one of the best sides in South Africa, also in Africa, a great team to watch. I must say that really, their coach (Jose Riveiro) has done a great job in the last couple of years, taking them to a pretty high level of football,” Ertugral said.

“But with this high level of football, I think it offered us possibilities of similar to our match (on Sunday) against (Kaizer) Chiefs. There are always counter chances. 

"If you play this type of football, you need to have security systems, and we knew that Chiefs doesn't have it. (Pirates) don't have it either. There is always a moment to catch them when they lose the ball.”

Ertugral said he expected Pirates would keep up heavy pressing pressure on his side.

“They pinned us, and then they have on the wings, two against one combinations, and the third one tucks in. But as long that you close the red zone, in front of the box, you can deal with it and I think we pretty much managed that.

“And then obviously goals are scored in the golden area (penalty box), and we didn't leave them a lot into the golden area. There was a lot of possibilities, box entries and they looked very good, but in the end, their last shot, their last pass didn’t work,” the Cty coach asserted.

“As for the penalty they got, I don't know. But I think that was a bit soft. Whatever, it didn't go in. We stayed in the game. Also, luck was on our side, which in football is very important. I hear them say that ‘we deserved to win’, but football is not about deserving to win.”