Jose Riveiro puts Pirates cup defeat down to poor day at the office

The Buccaneers surrendered their title to the Glamour Boys following a 2-1 defeat a Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban. 

Riveiro was counting on the experience gained in previous cup competitions in which Pirates won five trophies in three years. 

The Spanish mentor put it down to a poor day at the office.

"What you are saying is an accumulation of experiences in big games, where most of the time, things don't start for us the way we want them to, and we've had to show special courage and resilience.

"But in this final, we arrived in the final stages of the game, not as sharp as we usually are, and we couldn't cope when Chiefs had that good ten-minute spell," said the Spaniard.

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Riveiro used the word ugly to describe the fixture.  

"Ugly match. Both sides didn't produce much football. I think in the first half half we only experienced a few problems, territorially, we were superior.

"We had opportunities to score the second goal in the first half, but in the second half, the game became even uglier, it became more physical, and more interruptions started to take over," reflected Riveiro. 

Pirates beat Chiefs last weekend in the Betway Premiership Soweto Derby, but came unstuck this time around. 

Riveiro explains why they could not break down Amakhosi. 

"Evidence Makgopa had a problem with his hamstring, so we had to make that change. We intended to arrive in the final 20 minutes of the match with more goal-scoring options than Chiefs, and we didn't want to go to extra-time today, but eventually we lost control," explained the Buccaneers coach.

Riveiro now has to pick the players up as they gear up for their final few games in the Betway Premiership. The coach was asked which was more painful – losing the Champions League or the Nedbank Cup against Chiefs.

"Both. Each and every single game that we lose feels the same, but tomorrow we can go again."