Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro has explained his decision to take off defender Nkosinathi Sibisi in their victory over Cape Town City on Tuesday evening.

The Buccaneers returned to winning ways in the DStv Premiership after claiming a 2-0 win over the Citizens at the Orlando Stadium thanks to goals from Zakhele Lepasa and Patrick Maswanganyi.

The win take Pirates up to fourth place on the table with seven points from four matches while City are placed 10th with six points from five matches.

Riveiro admits he withdrew the defender and brought on Innocent Maela after Sibisi picked up a yellow card in the first half.

“Sibisi got a yellow card in the first-half, they were playing a lot in that direction trying to play diagonals with that wing, in our pressing it is important for our centre-back to feel safe in those circumstances, where we have to run backwards, to our goaL,” Riveiro SuperSport TV after the game.

“The way Cape Town City was playing, the way we were pressing, it was too much risk to play with that yellow, that’s why we made that decision early in the game.

“First of all, so happy with the three points, we really wanted to collect the three points tonight, it’s been long period without playing for the three points, we finished the last one against Chippa, not a good taste.

“And we really wanted to do it today, for us, for our fans as well, in front of an excellent team, It was difficult for us in the second-half, taking risks in the pressing we couldn’t get rid of that in the right way.

“And I think at the end of the game they paid a bit the effort that they did to try to keep us in our half and we managed to score the second goal and be more calm in the last minutes.”

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