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Pirates’ Jose Riveiro praying for goals

Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro is not worried by the unimpressive conversion rate by his team and is praying for goals.

Pirates have failed to score more than one goal in all their three opening DStv Premiership encounters.

The Buccaneers scored one goal when they defeated Swallows FC at Orlando Stadium in the first game of the season, followed by 1-1 draw against the stubborn Stellenbosch FC.

On Sunday, they suffered a shock 1-0 loss to Chippa United at Orlando Stadium as Daine Klate got his first taste of victory as a senior team coach.

Despite creating plenty chances against the Gqeberha-based side, they failed to score. The Spanish mentor is, however, confident they will soon turn the corner.

“We had two or three clear chances in the first 45 minutes, we should have capitalised those chances. In the second half, I think our superiority was more evident but we were not good enough with the last pass and shot.

“But I think we are experienced people and we’ve seen many of these games in our lives, one team dominating and the one not dominating end up winning the game.

“If we play 50 more games like we played with this one [Chippa United] we going to score more goals,” the 46-year old coach told the media.

The Sea Robbers have so far preferred Bienvenu Eva Nga and Kwame Peprah to lead the strike force but the duo have struggled with goals with only one goal between them. 

Kwame Peprah

Nonetheless, Riveiro refused to put blame on them and insisted that goal scoring is a collective effort.

“I’m not going to individualise Peprah because he’s the one who played today [Sunday] for 60 minutes and more players had situations where they could score. Peprah is doing well that’s why he’s in the starting 11 and with a low level of confidence it’s not easy to score goals.

“We shot 16 to 17 times to the goal, we got the initiative from the first minute. Players did everything to get the results,” added the coach.

The Happy People will be looking to bounce back to winning ways when they face tricky Royal AM side on Wednesday at Moses Mabhida Stadium. Kick off is at 19:30.


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