Coach Sredojevich urges Bucs to pick up, play harder

ORLANDO Pirates were handed a harsh lesson by Ajax Cape Town.

Now they have to show character, resolving to keep up their title hopes‚ coach Milutin Sredojevich said.

The 3-0 loss at the Cape Town Stadium on Wednesday came despite almost total dominance by the Buccaneers‚ who were wasteful in front of goal as they lost for the first time this year.

They also slipped down to fourth place in the Premier Soccer League standings‚ five points behind league leaders Mamelodi Sundowns.

Sredojevich‚ whose side beat Platinum Stars 2-0 away last weekend, said: “We went into this game with the intention of picking up where we left off after Saturday.

“We conceded from a set-piece but kept on attacking.

“But we didn’t have a way to break down the reinforced defence our opponent placed in front of their goal.

“We tended to play into the squeezed areas.

“Despite that squeeze and limited area and time on the ball‚ we still created chances.

“We conceded our second goal to a counterattack that was totally against the run of play‚” he said.

Ajax were 2-0 up at the break after goals from Musa Lebusa from a corner and Yannick Zakri‚ newly signed from Sundowns.

“At half time, we tried to motivate the players to come out and give their best‚” Sredojevich said.

“It was total domination from us in the second half.

“Our opponent crossed the halfway line twice in the second half three times maybe and scored that third goal‚ again totally against the run of play‚ while our chances went begging.

“We tried to walk the ball into the net instead of being much more cool in front of the goal.

“Overall it was a hard lesson for us.

“All the statistical aspects were on our side but the most important stat‚ and the only one that counts [the scoreline]‚ was not on our side.

“We are in a process‚ we are learning‚ we learnt so many lessons tonight.

“The biggest one was how to try to break down the reinforced defence of our opponent.

“When you are in a process and building‚ this is something that occasionally happens.

“I hope this result wakes up the pride inside of us to make us fully aware that the game of football can go either way.

“Football has shown in this game that anyone has a chance to win‚ even if what happened on the field was not reflected in the result.”

Pirates next host Maritzburg United tomorrow (kickoff 8.15pm).

Sredojevich challenged his players to put the Cape Town experience behind them.

“We have to refocus for the game against Maritzburg and recover the team for what will be our third match in seven days.

“But it is a match where we really need to show character.

“[We must] measure our values and show what material we are built from‚” he said. – TimesLIVE