Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro has thanked the club's supporters for pushing them to continue their perfect start after a sixth consecutive win against TS Galaxy in the Betway Premiership.
Pirates extended their lead at the top of the standings to six points as they maintained their 100 percent winning record from the start of the season with a 2-0 win over the Rockets, thanks to goals in either half from Thalente Mbatha and Relebohile Mofokeng.
In his post-match interview, Riveiro started by congratulating Makhehlene Makhaula for his Man of the Match accolade, which does not come easy for defensively minded players.
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"It means a lot because we're used to give individual awards to players that shine in the last metres of the game and not the ones that are shining in the first metres of the game and he's one example, in any possible means as a professional, Makhaula's reward also belongs to those who are working to keep a clean-sheet," Riveiro said on SuperSport TV.
"Like today our centre-backs, usually they don't get the recognition they deserve, so happy for him because he's a very important player for us."
The Buccaneers have continued to grind out results in spite of injuries to their defenders but the Spanish coach kept his chin up.
"With this marathon we have to be ready for every kind of inconvenience because there's a lot of challenges in the game. Today was a game that was played in a really high tempo from the first minute, with a lot of duels, contact and it's normal to suffer these type of knocks when you try to be first and [hopefully] it's not going to be something serious," Riveiro said.
The Soweto giants will have a rest this weekend before getting back to action in exactly a week when they host Richards Bay.
"There's a lot of things to refine, like you saw today, we were not better than Galaxy in some moments of the game, where we were dominated as well but we managed again to pull ourselves," the Spanish coach continued.
"One more time I think the people incredible, pushing us, in the moments we were struggling a little bit and together we have managed to have a fantastic beginning of the season, something that we were crying for in the previous two [seasons].
"So now it's time to find the spaces we can still do the things better, which is not always possible in football and consolidate the good job we did in the beginning of the season."