Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro says the race to the Betway Premiership crown is a marathon despite his second-placed side trailing log leaders Mamelodi Sundowns with 16 points and remains upbeat about their chances.

The Buccaneers claimed a 1-0 victory over Chippa United in Gqeberha on Wednesday, while Sundowns were held to a 1-1 stalemate by Manqoba Mngqithi’s Golden Arrows at Mpumalanga Stadium on the same night.

This saw Pirates narrow the gap to 16 points shy of the summit after it was stretched to 18 following their shock 2-0 defeat to Marumo Gallants over the weekend. Riveiro’s men have accumulated 39 points with Miguel Cardoso’s side taking their points tally to 55 after the draw.

However, the Bucs mentor is not getting ahead of himself, because games in hand don’t necessarily translate into points in hand. But Riveiro insists the battle for supremacy is not yet over with points still up for grabs.

“It’s still a long way to go, like I [previously] said, it’s difficult to know where you are when you have three, four or five games in hand. You want to be optimistic and think we’ll collect all the points and then the gap is going to be different,” he said.

“So, because we don’t know, the only thing we can do is to focus on the next one. That’s what we try to do in the best of our capacity, to [keep] trusting that every game for us is an opportunity to dream, to do something big and that’s the way we are facing the games.” 

Moreover, while being a few games behind a points machine like the Brazilians might be a psychological disadvantage for the Sea Robbers, the Spanish tactician is adamant that they are focused on their race.

“We are not [focused on the log], at least personally and I try to express the same thing to my players, ‘Do not look at the table, do not look at the log because the reality is still not there, ’” added Riveiro, who’s in the final months of his contract.

“But it’s going to be there soon, hopefully in some weeks but right now it’s just 16 teams trying to find a position on the log. We are trying to find our own and focusing on our race.” 

Pirates will switch their focus to the Nedbank Cup where they are set to take on SuperSport United for a spot in the semifinals at Old Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday, before swinging back into league action with a visit to Stellenbosch FC on Tuesday, 11 March.