By Monwabisi Jimlongo
Conceding goals early in a match is a source of concern for both Orlando Pirates coach Josef Zinnbauer and club captain Thulani Hlatshwayo.
The Buccaneers conceded early goals in their last two matches – a DStv Premiership encounter against Cape Town City and Saturday’s MTN8 final against Bloemfontein Celtic.
‘‘It was shocking to concede in the first minutes,’’ Zinnbauer said.
Former Bidvest Wits captain and now Pirates skipper is also concerned about the manner in which they continue to concede goals.
‘‘As defenders we get unhappy to concede so early in the game. It should be a concern we need to rectify,’’ Hlatshwayo said after leading Pirates to their first trophy in six years.
After losing four cup finals since their Nedbank Cup triumph over Wits in 2014, the Buccaneers finally came good at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban coming from behind to defeat Celtic 2-1 and lift the MTN8 trophy.
Deon Hotto and Thembinkosi Lorch scored for Pirates while Siphelele Luthuli netted for Siwelele.
‘‘We had lots of chances and we couldn’t score. We then scored and then got structure. After the break we played our strategy very, very well. We lost a little of structure after the second goal. In the end of the day I think we deserved this, we deserved to win, we earned the title,’’ said Zinnbauer.
Saturday evening’s MTN8 triumph was Zinnbauer’s first trophy since he landed on South African soil to start his job at Pirates in December 2019.
‘‘It was not easy to come in the final. We came to the final and won it. For me it is great, I’m happy now. We will see what happens in the next stage,’’ said Zinnbauer.
Zinnbauer’s counterpart at Celtic John Maduka was happy with how his boys performed during the match despite losing the match.
‘‘After we got that goal we had couple of chances. We changed a little bit in terms of playing our game,’’ Maduka said.
‘‘Second half comes and unfortunately we lost one of the players with a red card. They got a penalty, I’m not sure whether it was in the box or outside. We played our game and had more possession of the ball. We took the game to our opponents.’’
Maduka has said that we picked up some positives from the encounter even though Phunya Sele Sele lost.
‘‘There are so many positives, especially in the second half. It’s just unfortunate that we didn’t win the game,’’ he said.
The former Malawian national team midfielder was still not sure about the penalty given to Pirates. Celtic defender Ronald Pfumbidzai fouled Lorch and as a result he was red carded by match referee Luxolo Badi.
‘‘I was not sure whether it was in the box or outside the box. From where I was sitting it looked like it was outside the box,’’ Maduka said.
Maduka insisted that he was not going to castigate Pfumbidzai for errors he committed during the match.
Apart from giving away the penalty and getting a red card, Pfumbidzai also failed to mark Hotto on his way to equalising for Pirates.
Maduka also added that he was not bothered by losing two cup finals in a space of three months having lost 1-0 to Mamelodi Sundowns in the Nedbank Cup final last season.
‘‘We are a team and work as a team. Football is a game of mistakes.
Even before he made a mistake maybe a mistake was made somewhere. We win and lose as a team,’’ he said.
‘‘There were eight teams in the competition, we managed to go to the final. We will try to motivate the guys, we know everyone wanted to win it. It’s one of those things when you want it more and it doesn’t happen. Life does not stop there because we lost in the final. We won’t win all the time.’’
Meanwhile, Lorch was happy after helping the Buccaneers win on Saturday.
‘‘I’m very, very happy. It’s my first trophy. I think after conceding the first goal we kept on pushing until we got the equaliser. I’m
happy to be the champion. I think we prepared well for Celtic knowing that they are a good team with good players,’’ Lorch said.
