Orlando Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouaddou has hailed Saturday’s 3-0 victory over AmaZulu as a morale booster ahead of next Sunday’s Soweto derby, albeit feeling they could have easily won 7-0 at Orlando Amstel Arena.
Pirates’ next fixture is against their Soweto traditional foes, Kaizer Chiefs, who they drubbed 3-0 in the first round in February, at FNB Stadium next Sunday (3pm).
Yanela Mbuthuma, Oswin Appollis and Relebohile Mofokeng were on target for title-chasing Pirates. Mofokeng, who has now scored 10 league goals this season, also missed a penalty in the 75th minute.
The win saw Bucs go two points clear at the top of the table with second-placed Mamelodi Sundowns boasting two games in hand as they have been involved in the CAF Champions League, where they have reached the final for the second season running.
“I am very happy for the boys, but again to be honest, it’s a game that could have finished with a 7-0 scoreline, definitely! So we have to keep going. I think it was a good afternoon for us just before the derby. It [thumping AmaZulu] gives a lot of confidence to the boys,” Ouaddou said.
Bucs’ clean sheet against Usuthu was their goalkeeper Sipho Chaine’s 17th in the league this season, equalling the club’s record for clean sheets by a goalkeeper set by Moeneeb Josephs in the 2009/10 campaign.
Pirates have now scored 50 goals in the Betway Premiership this season, meaning they are three goals away from breaking their record of most league goals in a 30-game era, set in the 2004/05 season, where they found the back of the net 52 times under coach Kostadin Papic.
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