Richards Bay coach Vusumuzi Vilakazi says he was happy with the way his side defended against an in-form Orlando Pirates outfit in Soweto.

The Natal Rich Boys secured a 1-0 win over the Buccaneers courtesy of a 36th-minute goal from Sanele Barns at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto.

The win sees Richards Bay are placed 15th on the table with 27 points from 28 games, Pirates in third place on the log with 49 points from 28 matches.

Vilakazi says their main job was to not concede and frustrate the Soweto giants in their midfield to prevent them from moving further ahead in attack.

“I did mention in the beginning that a proper set-up today in terms of our defensive structure will do for us because we know their strong points and weaknesses even though we didn’t capitalise that much on their weaknesses in terms of exploiting the spaces in that particular time but we knew that their full-backs have got the appetite of going forward,” Vilakazi told SuperSport TV after the game.

“So, the recovery if we regain and exploit those spaces but the recovery if we exploit those spaces but it’s not something that we did the whole of the 90 minutes but I was happy with the defensive structure because we were trying to frustrate Orlando Pirates from penetrating especially in the midfield.”

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