Coach Joseph Makhanya backs Pirates to bounce back

Orlando Pirates Diski Challenge coach Joseph Makhanya believes his team have the character to bounce back from the recent slump, where they dropped five points.

Pirates saw their five-match winning streak end when they lost 2-0 to SuperSport United. The defeat was followed by a 1-1 draw against title hopefuls Cape Town City FC last weekend.

Those two results saw Pirates dropping from the number one spot in the log to third place. However, with nine games to go, Makhanya remains optimistic that it is not done. They can retain their number one spot.

"We still have games to play, it's a marathon," said an optimistic Makhanya.

"We knew we would not win the league with 19/20 games. You need to play 30 games.

"How quickly we bounce back then, the better for us.

"We are positive that we will bounce back. We have been positive throughout the whole season.

He added: "We have shown back a little bit of consistency throughout the season and I believe we will do it again this time around."

Makhanya said he was happy with the progress and growth shown by his youngsters since the beginning of the season.

Recently Pirates' first team featured Ndumiso Ngiba on the bench when they played against Swallows FC in a DStv Premiership match.

"I am happy seeing some of these boys in the first team. It shows that there's something that we are doing right. As much as we want to be champions at the end of the day, we must help these boys grow and go to the first team.

He concluded: "Look at SuperSport United they have a couple of players who juggle both first team and Diski and that shows that they are not afraid of taking risks with these youngsters."

On Sunday, Pirates will face the league defending champions Stellenbosch FC in another tricky clash at Idas Valley Sports Ground.