Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro was left unimpressed with the state of the pitch at the FNB Stadium in their comeback 2-1 victory over arch-rivals Kaizer Chiefs at a sold-out affair at the Calabash on Saturday afternoon.

Evidence Makgopa scored to cancel out Glody Makabi Lilepo’s opener two minutes from the first whistle before young sensation Relebohile Mofokeng turned up to score the decisive goal to give the Buccaneers a lead in the second half. This strike snatched all the maximum points.

The Buccaneers are 12 points behind the rampant runaways, log leaders Mamelodi Sundowns, who claimed a 2-0 win over relegation-threatened Cape Town City in the mother city, with goals from Tashreeq Matthews and Iqraam Rayners.

Despite claiming a morale-boosting win following a spell of disappointing results, including losses to Pyramids FC of Egypt in the CAF Champions League and Sekhukhune United in the Betway Premiership, respectively, the Spanish mentor believes the pitch at FNB Stadium left a lot to be desired.

“What can I say about the field here [at FNB Stadium], I think it’s something to do a reflection at least and to be critical [about] and do a reflection and to say if it’s possible to do the things because we’re working so hard to offer a good football show. Sometimes it’s possible, sometimes we are not good enough, sometimes [because] the elements are not helping us,” Riveiro said.

“I’m talking plural about every football team, Pirates and Chiefs today [Saturday], so we try, we don’t play indoors, we have to play with rain, we have to play if the field is okay, football has always been like that.

“But to assist the players to play better football, it’s important to have good football pitches and I think that in the country we can do it and at least like I said, I only need a reflection and be critical and let’s see if things can get improved.” 

However, despite taking issue with the playing conditions, Riveiro says he is pleased the field was in a much better condition than in their previous outing against Pyramids, as his players were now accustomed to the circumstances, having locked horns with the Egyptians on the same pitch a week before.

“Thank you for the question, but it’s not true that I was concerned about [the state of the pitch], no, maybe I was concerned about many other things at that time. We played here against the Pyramids one week ago,” the Bucs tactician added.

“We had a minus matchday one [MD-1] training here as well, it’s a very slippery field, hard and difficult. Today I’m happy because against Pyramids, especially in the first half, we had a lot of players falling, today we managed to at least stay up, and that was better.

“But it was difficult sometimes for both teams to keep the verticality, you know, when you have an explosive action and etcetera.”

Pirates will lock horns with their fierce nemesis once again in the Nedbank Cup final penciled for 10 May at the renowned Moses Mabhida Stadium. The Sea Robbers will be keen to three-peat the Ke Yona Cup to make history, while Amakhosi will be determined to end a decade-long trophy drought.