Pirates coach chews over defeat
• Football is not about what you deserve but what you get, says Bucs manager Milutin Sredojevic after side’s MTN8 loss to SuperSport
Orlando Pirates coach Milutin Sredojevic opted for a philosophical view after elimination from the MTN8 on Saturday‚ proclaiming that “the game does not forgive mistakes”.
The Pirates coach added that in football “it is not about what you deserve but what you get”.
Pirates were knocked out by holders SuperSport United 4-3 on penalties following a 2-2 draw after extra time at the Orlando Stadium.
Sredojevic is obviously bitterly disappointed after Pirates let slip an early lead‚ missed a sitter just before the end of regulation time‚ squandered a penalty in extra time and were then knocked out in a post-match penalty shootout.
“We started well, but what was unacceptable was to open that zone from where SuperSport score many goals and concede a goal from that socalled golden area in front of the defence‚” he said.
“No one was there to apply the block.
“Secondly‚ also from the transition we made two similar mistakes and in a game like this one, it does not forgive you.”
Augustine Mulenga had Pirates 1-0 up after 15 minutes but Dean Furman scored a sumptuous left-footed equaliser from the edge of the box to level the score before half-time.
Evans Rusike then eased through to make it 2-1 to SuperSport shortly after the interval.
Pirates were level at 2-2 after a deflection off Gladwin Shitolo in the 60th minute.
“Anyhow‚ we found the strength to come back‚ to score that equalising goal‚” the Bucs coach said.
“We dominated mostly and we did our best to finish it off before we were forced to penalties‚ which we know is a lottery.
“We had a golden chance to finish the match in regular time and missed that penalty.”
After Vincent Pule conjured up a horror miss in the 85th minute‚ SuperSport centre-back Morgan Gould fouled Thamsanqa Gabuza in his own area with just seven minutes of extra time left to allow Pirates to seal it, but Ronwen Williams made a diving stop to deny Mulenga.
“Usually when you go into penalties the team that has missed a penalty during the match is psychologically down.
“We tried to encourage the players to still go and try and get a victory from the penalties, but it was not meant to be‚” added the Pirates coach. “It was a good competitive match with four goals in regular time, but unfortunately we couldn’t go through and follow our target.
“Football has shown us something that is a big truth of the game, and that is it’s not about what you deserve but what you get.
“If it was about deserving‚ then we deserved more, but we got what we got.
“The league continues for us on Wednesday and we need to find the mental strength from this disappointment to bounce back stronger.”
Pirates host Bidvest Wits at Orlando Stadium on Wednesday in their third game of the Premiership campaign.