Pirates won their game against a usually pragmatic and difficult-to-break-down Sekhukhune emphatically last night. Bucs had a total of 17 goal attempts and nine of those were on target, witnessing a hat-trick from Zakhele Lepasa, to make it five goals in two games for the Bafana Bafana striker.

Riveiro also says they have got very good offensive players who are continuing with how they left off last season.

"So far, I think you can see and notice that they are having fun. They really are getting joy playing together. Going forward the game sometimes becomes like a storm and one of the keys I think, not the keys but a small difference with the beginning of the last season because I think the end of the season, the previews were pretty much the same," Riveiro said.

"In terms of the amount of players that finished in the box or close to the box and that give much more possibilities to catch rebounds, second actions to press a bit higher in the lost. Ofcourse the forward players in the squad are very talented players."

The other two goals came from two attackers who are also on song, Ndabayithethwa Ndlondlo (deflected) and Monnapule Saleng.

After brushing aside Royal AM midweek in the Dstv Premiership, beating them 4-2, Riveiro was also happy to have kept a clean sheet in this game, for the first time in three matches this season. He says when they lifted the title last season, they were defensively sound.

"Obviously after nine goals, I can only be happy in two games. Understanding that it's not always gonna be like that. We were very effective a few days ago. Today, we were very clinic in the first chances that we got in the second half.

Maybe more than the previous game against Royal AM. But understanding that it's not always possible to score four or five goals in one game. Sometimes, you score once and then you have to keep a clean sheet like we did today and it's something that makes me feel also very happy.

When we managed to win the MTN8 it was one of the keys, if not the main one, it was our consistency in defense. We didn't concede a single goal, one against Royal AM on offside but then in the semifinals, two clean sheets.

In the final, clean sheets. In these knockout games, in this competition, it's the key otherwise you need to be really accurate upfront and that's the most difficult thing."

Finished North America Cup