Following their poor start to the season, Orlando Pirates will be looking to bounce back to winning ways when they meet Marumo Gallants in a Betway Premiership clash at the Dr Molemela Stadium on Tuesday night (kickoff is at 7.30pm).
The Buccaneers suffered a shock 1-0 defeat at home to Sekhukhune United in their opening league match last Saturday. Gallants won 2-1 against Richards Bay in their season opener.
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Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouaddou admits that his team had a bad day at the office against Babina Noko.
The Moroccan coach, however, insists that despite the poor start to their campaign, the Buccaneers will bounce back and compete for the league title again this season.
“We started badly, but we’ll get some rest and quickly get back to business,” said Ouaddou.
“The league is a marathon; many games remain to be played. This result (against Sekhukhune United) means that every season, the league is getting better and tougher.
“The teams are preparing and organising themselves well. My analysis of the result is that there are no more small teams in the league.”
Mbule on Pirates loss
Sipho Mbule, who was making his league debut for Pirates, concurred with his coach that the Buccaneers did not have the best of games against Sekhukhune on Saturday.
“I think our first match was not that great; we played in patches. We created some chances, but they were not clinical. It’s a bad start for us, but it’s something that we’ll learn from,” said Mbule.
“As we told ourselves that no team would come here to Orlando and dominate us, and of course, they didn’t dominate us. They got one chance and they capitalise on it. I think now, it’s about us going back to the drawing board and looking at the game again and see where we can improve on.”
Ouaddou surprised many people when he started with Boitumelo Radiopane upfront ahead of the club’s top goalscorer last season, Tshegofatso Mabasa, who was not even on the bench. He has since come under fire from the Bucs faithful after the loss to Sekhukhune.
“Mabasa is available; it is a choice that we made. But he is ready, and when we call him, I think he will be able to perform and give us the best of himself,” replied Ouaddou when asked why Mabasa was not part of the matchday squad.
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It remains to be seen if Mabasa will start upfront for Pirates against Gallants or if Radiopane will lead the Bucs’ attack again.
