Orlando Pirates captain Thulani Hlatshwayo has praised his side’s fighting spirit in coming back to salvage a point against Baroka in the DStv Premiership.

A late strike from substitute Tshegofatso Mabasa had Pirates come from a goal down to draw 1-1 with Bakgaga at the Orlando Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The draw moves the Soweto giants move up to third place in the league standings with nine points, while Baroka dropped down to fifth place with eight points from five matches.

However, Hlatshwayo admits his side made a few mistakes but wants to help the team learn from those as they prepare for the next match.

‘I think as a team we did well to fight back after we conceded a goal from our own mistake. We kept going, we knew that they were going to sit, because we had a lot of ball possession in the first half and we knew that we needed to get a goal so that we could add another one. It happens, the mistake that happened, I also lost a ball and they hit the post, it happens, it’s the game of mistakes,’ Hlatshwayo told the Pirates media.

‘But the fighting spirit from the guys, being able to come back and salvage a point, because it could have been worse. We conceded a goal towards a critical phase when we were coming back for the second half and the minds were still a bit offish and that’s when we made that mistake. Not blaming anyone, but we learn from these mistakes and we had to come back, we had to push the guys to come back but, obviously, it’s disappointing that we couldn’t get the three points at home but to salvage a point out of the circumstances – we went through, we can build from here,’ he concluded.