no time to cry
Chippa must pick up pieces, — coach Hunt
Chippa United coach Gavin Hunt expressed his disappointment at his team’s 3-1 loss to Soweto giants Orlando Pirates in a DStv Premiership fixture at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday.
The defeat was Chippa’s second straight loss in the league this season, after their 1-0 setback against rookies Royal AM.
Pirates’ victory was their second in a row after their 1-0 triumph over Moroka Swallows.
After a slow start resulting in back-to-back draws against Stellenbosch and Marumo Gallants, the Buccaneers seemed to have found their mojo on Saturday.
But it was former Mamelodi Sundowns player Phakamani Mahlambi who put the Chilli Boys ahead after just 12 minutes.
However, the Gqeberha side’s joy was short-lived.
Pirates’ Tshegofatso Mabasa levelled the scoreline in the 28th minute.
Abel Mabaso added his name to the scoresheet against his former team to put the Buccaneers in the lead in the 58th minute.
Goodman Mosele’s goal piled on the misery for the Chilli Boys.
Afterwards, Hunt said his players had failed defensively.
“Disappointed, really disappointed.
“I thought we had the better chances of the two teams,” the 57-year-old coach said.
“They took theirs and we didn’t take ours.
“But we have got to defend — our defending was really [poor].
“That has been the problem with the club in past years and we have to get our defending right.
“We brought the big players back in but they certainly let us down today in the defence — that’s for sure.”
The Chilli Boys’ next league fixture is against Stellenbosch and Hunt said there was no time to dwell on the defeat.
“We have got to pick up the pieces.
“We have to try and keep a few clean sheets.
“If we keep clean sheets, we can win games.”
Pirates coach Mandla Ncikazi welcomed the win.
“We are a hardworking team and I am grateful for the commitment from the team.
“If we can get a result with such a performance, I can only imagine what would happen if we had to play better.
“The signs are positive. It’ sa great result, Pirates needed that.
“We still have a lot of work to do, this is not the performance you can expect from a team like Pirates.”
He said his team needed to be more dominant and composed on the ball.
“I thought we did not do that well enough.
“But as for scoring, it has been our deficiency.
“I was happy that we scored the goals today,” Ncikazi said.