Ronnie Gabriel hails youthful side’s brave display against Orlando Pirates

A first-half strike from Tshepang Moremi proved decisive at Moses Mabhida Stadium, sending the Buccaneers into the final. 

But Gabriel was encouraged by how his team grew into the game and piled pressure on the Soweto giants in the closing stages.

"Firstly I must say a commendable performance by the group today. We didn't start the game on the front foot, a little slow start in the first half but as the game progressed, we felt coming into the second half we started to dominate the exchanges,” Gabriel said.

“We changed our line of confrontation, we tried to confront Pirates higher up the pitch and play the game of the break attack. We started to pay dividends for us, we created a few goal scoring chances. 

“Thinking the first few minutes of the second half we had a clear cut chance where we could have at least equalised. Going deeper into the second half we continued to play the game with aggression and determination. 

“We could see that we wanted the equaliser, pushing hard for the equaliser and we gave Pirates numerous nervous moments right to the final whistle. It even ended up where Pirates were time delaying, time delaying tactics and even the goalkeeper ended up with a yellow card. So, very seldom you see a Pirates team under so much pressure and under so much siege."

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The coach was far from despondent after the match, believing the display from his charges can win them points if carried into the Betway Premiership. 

"We're disappointed with the result but in terms of the performance we are not disappointed. I felt that it was a gracious defeat, we represented ourselves well,” the coach added.

“We are happy with the performance, yes we would have liked to have gone to the final but this is how it goes in the semi-finals if you don't take the chances that are presented to you and the opposition gets one chance on the other hand and they score and they go into the final. 

“So, we accept this result here, we must take the positives out of it and continue to grow in our league performance."