Rhulani Mokwena, head coach of Orlando Pirates (Photo by Lee Warren/Gallo Images)
The Buccaneers lost 4-2 in a penalty shoot-out after the game had ended 2-2 at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Saturday afternoon.
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“Let’s put things into perspective here. Let’s look at Pirates’ last five games including this one. This one (we play) Kaizer Chiefs, we lose on penalties. In the game against Highlands Park at Makhulong Stadium where Pirates have not been able to pick up full points, and for the first time we collected three points.
“We lost to Stellenbosch in a game we shouldn’t, where we created close to 32 chances at goal and we should have scored. Okay, the final score is what matters, we lost that one.
“Then you got to the Stellenbosch game that we won – we won 1-0. Then you go to the Cape Town City game where we were 2-0 down and we came back – making it 2-2 and took the lead at 3-2 but then in the end we drew the match 3-3.
“If you look at basically the results and not consider penalties then you will understand that out of the last five games we have won two, drawn two and only lost one. Now if that is not an upward trajectory and you don’t see that as progress, then I don’t know what is. No team can win each and every game,” explained Mokwena.
He said he has managed to stabilize the ship that at some point looked like the Titanic on its final voyage and said he believes they are capable of more.
“From we come from, where we were conceding goals, losing matches week in and week out, we have managed to stabilize the ship. And the reality is that we are two points off fourth spot (in the league). It makes the next league games very important so that we can get a little bit closer to competing for the championship which what we have to focus on for now. So, there is a lot of progress and there is a lot of positives and that is what we want to focus on.
“We don’t feel the pressure, we don’t feel the crisis. Ours is to make sure now – which is important because we have proven that we can win games – what is important now to fins consistency and win two games, three games and four games in a row. And that is what we focus on,” said the 34-year-old mentor.
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