Orlando Pirates coach Rhulani Mokwena admitted that his side’s 2-2 draw with Baroka on Saturday felt like a loss after the Buccaneers threw away a two-goal lead late on in the encounter.

The Soweto giants looked in control of the game leading into the final 10 minutes at the Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday afternoon but they switched off and were punished as Bakgaga managed to net two late goals to earn a point.

Speaking to SuperSport TV after the game Mokwena reserved special praise for Linda Mntambo and Kabelo Dlamini but admitted that the draw felt like a loss to him.

Congratulations to ‘Piano’ [Linda Mntambo] for Man of the Match again when he comes back, like he played against Highlands Park he won [the] Man of the Match [award] again today, very good display, scored a very good goal and played exceptionally well,’ said the young coach.

‘His [Kabelo Dlamini] mentalty is right, he comes in from the bench, he doesn’t sulk when he sits on the bench, he’s got the right mentality, if you have the right mentality, football rewards you. Congratulations to him also, he did exceptionally well when he came on.

Mokwena admitted that his team battled to deal with Baroka’s presence on dead-ball situations.

‘Especially when you’re [on a ] two-nil lead, it looks and feels like a loss to be honest with you. But we give good games, that’s what we do, we gave games with lots of goals, we give good spectacles, so hopefully the crowd enjoyed the spectacle today,” he continued.

‘We struggled to deal with the set-pieces, the two throw ins, two goals, we have to look at it, deadball situations. [But] we scored some very good goals today, goals with good moments and things that we practiced. So sometimes it’s just about perspectives and you focus on some of the good things that we’re doing and we try to improve on the other things.’