Pirates planned early raid on Sundowns – coach

Orlando Pirates set out to make an early impact in Sunday’s top of the Betway Premiership table clash against champions Mamelodi Sundowns and were rewarded with two quick goals that set up their victory, coach Jose Riveiro revealed after the clash.

Relebogile Mofokeng netted twice in the opening five minutes to launch Pirates on their way to a 2-1 win that revives their title hopes.

They are 15 points behind Sundowns but have four catch-up matches to play.

Riveiro said Pirates had started well in many of their previous games but this time they reaped the rewards.

“In all three games against Chippa United, Magesi and Stellenbosch recently, we had three clear chances in the first 15 minutes but we didn't manage to do it.

“This season we’ve started our games really good, really good. And today was the case,” he said of the blitzing beginning.

“We were looking for a strong beginning of the game, with no time for Sundowns to really think about what's going on, what's happening there, and obviously, you are lucky enough to score and you do it twice, it is a big advantage.”

But he stressed it was still a hard slog to hold on for the three points.

“My feeling after the two goals was that I wanted the game to finish there and then,” he joked.

“Obviously, you have to keep going for 80 minutes at least, and you know it’s not going to be easy.”

Riveiro said Sundowns became more adventurous, pushing the wingbacks up high. “(Khuliso) Mudau and (Aubrey) Modiba were playing even ahead of Peter (Shalulile) and Iqraam (Rayners), so you know that a tough and busy 70-80 minutes are coming for you.

“Probably the thing that we did best was that the team continued playing, continuing building from the. It's true that in the second half we missed a few … two, three passes in the transitions to try to create something else, to spend some time in their half and we couldn't.

“But, I think I'm like every other the person in the club, and our fans, we have to be really proud of what these guys did in terms of playing football and also showing that we are very serious team,” Riveiro added.