Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro has opened up about his reasoning for bringing on substitutes Relebohile Mofokeng and Tshegofatso Mabasa against Mamelodi Sundowns.

The Buccaneers retained their Nedbank Cup crown following their 2-1 win over Sundowns at the Mbombela Stadium on Saturday evening.

Themba Zwane opened the scoring for Sundowns in the 54th minute but a 71st minute penalty by Patrick Maswanganyi and a stoppage time goal from Relebohile Mofokeng handed Pirates the win on the day.

Riveiro admits that he decided to bring on Mofokeng and Mabasa to add even more “pace upfront” and to play Sundowns at their own game.

“We didn’t expect to use him (Mofokeng) when we were not leading, it was not the plan. Unfortunately we concede one goal, we were about to play Tshego and Rele but the intention was to keep the pace upfront, with (Deon) Hotto, with (Monnapule) Saleng, with Rele and them, try to stretch them as far as possible,” Riveiro said.

“It’s a team that is used to play very high, with the back four very high. So we tried to repeat something similar again, we had our opportunities in the first half we didn’t capitalise. In a perfect moment he’s a blessed guy, what a goal! Unbelievable,” he concluded.

Photo by Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix