Orlando Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouaddou believes the title race could go down to the wire after his side moved to within two points of leaders Mamelodi Sundowns after a convincing 2-0 win over Stellenbosch in the Betway Premiership in Cape Town on Tuesday.
Pirates advanced to 62 points with three games to go as they kept up the pressure on Sundowns, scoring twice near the end of the first half through Evidence Makgopa and Patrick Maswanganyi.
The Buccaneers are next up on Saturday against Magesi and then finish their campaign with matches against Durban City and Orbit College, and Ouaddou insisted the title race was not yet over, even if Sundowns will retain the title if they win their last three matches.
“If you see the Premier League in England, Manchester City, Arsenal, they're fighting. I think it's the same fight that we see in the PSL. It creates a lot of interest for the fans. It's no fun when a team takes the title 10 games before the end of the season, because if you already know at the beginning of the season who is going to be champions, you lose interest.
“So this season we’ve tried to bring more competitiveness. I think the boys really did well. Let's see what the result will be at the end of this season. But the most important is to be competitive until the end.
“So for us, the dream is still here. The players are going to fight, and it's possible, like I said at the beginning of the season, to fight until the last game and maybe the people will know the champion only after the last game,” he added.
Tuesday’s hard fought victory over Stellenbosch saw Pirates enjoying prolonged celebrations with their supporters afterwards.
“We always knew that coming to play against Stellenbosch is very tough, so we prepared for this game with a lot of focus and concentration,” Ouaddou said.
“We knew that they would employ a very strong block, a compact block without space, and with a lot of transition. And the idea of our approach was to, first of all, answer this physicality in the duels and, at the same time, try to find the space behind the back four, because we knew that we had to escape this first line of pressure.”
Both goals, however, came from floated balls into the area; the first from a free kick that Makgopa headed home and the second a cross from Maswanganyi that Stellenbosch goalkeeper Sage Stephens missed and allowed to go into the net.
“We scored from set pieces, something that is unusual for us, but it was important to open the scoring and to push the opponent to get out. These two goals in the first half were very important for us,” the Pirates coach explained.
“It allowed us to try to manage in the second half, even after (Stellenbosch coach) Gavin Hunt brought more strikers on to put the pressure.
“I think we did something great today. We have to say it, because not many teams have won here against Gavin Hunt.
“And I think we have to really, really congratulate our boys for their mentality, for their fighting spirit, because it was not easy. I cannot say that we produced nice football, because the pitch didn't allow us, but in another area, I think the boys really, really gave me a lot of positive answers.”