Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro has described the current crop of players in the Bucs camp as a luxury to work with after masterminding a 2-0 away victory over TS Galaxy without several of his key players on Tuesday night.
The Soweto giants were without playmaker Patrick Maswanganyi, Deano Van Rooyen who was forced off injured against Amazulu last week Friday, while Monnapule Saleng was absent for a third consecutive league match.
This presented Kabelo Dlamini and Thabiso Monyane with a chance to be restored to the Spaniard’s starting XI having featured off the bench in recent outings, meanwhile teenage sensation Mohau Nkota continued to make the right wing spot his in the absence of Saleng.
With regular senior attackers unavailable, Relebohile Mofokeng assumed the responsibility of steering the forward line and capped it off with a magnificent stunner from outside the box to double the lead in the second half, much to the delight of Riveiro. “He’s [Mofokeng] contributing a lot to the collective; like many of our players, we have talent and quality in every line and in every position, it’s nice to see players playing and interacting together.” said Riveiro after the match.
The Spanish mentor says he is spoilt for choice in terms of team selection despite not having his trusted allies on the day and has hailed the impact of players who are down in the pecking order. whenever they are called upon.
“It’s a luxury for me as a coach to have this kind of arsenal, the amount of quality in the squad, you Look at the names tonight [on Tuesday]; probably we are missing some of our regular players as well.” the Bucs coach said.
“But the ones who are coming to the field are getting accountability; they want to show that, they are here for the team, for the club, and we are really committed to meeting the objectives that we are looking for.
“Like I said, we came here with the intention to go back to Joburg with the three points; that’s the most important thing in this current marathon of fixtures and games and training and everything so far, so good.
Pirates moved six points clear at the top of the table, while defending champions Mamelodi Sundowns will be looking to narrow the gap and bounce back from their disappointing 1-0 defeat to Polokwane City as they host Cape Town City on Wednesday (19h30).
The Sea Robbers will return to Betway Premiership action next week Tuesday against Richards Bay at Orlando Stadium and will have ample time to recharge and fine-tune their tactics, which saw them win six games on the trot at the beginning of a PSL campaign, equaling a 2002/03 club record.
