Ncikazi shoulders responsibility after CAF final heartbreak: 'There is no other excuse!'

Orlando Pirates co-coach Mandla Ncikazi has taken full responsibility for his side's penalty shootout defeat to RS Berkane in the CAF Confederation Cup final.

READ | 'We disappointed millions of South Africans!' - Pirates coach Ncikazi after CAF final defeat

Pirates forced the game to a penalty shootout after Thembinkosi Lorch's 117th-minute penalty cancelled out Youssef El-Fahli's 97th-minute opener.

It is more heartbreak for the Buccaneers, who finished as runners-up in the CAF Champions League final in 2013 and the 2015 edition of the Confed Cup.

And Ncikazi took full responsibility for the loss.

"You can point in every direction when you enter the door; your responsibility as a coach is to make the team win, no matter how many excuses you can put in front, but it is still your responsibility," he said.

"I take the blame; I am the one who is not helping the team to win matches; until that changes, then it is our responsibility as a coach, so there is no other excuse.

"Currently, the team is not scoring, and it is the coach's responsibility. We lost the final, a match that we shouldn't have lost. It's a match that we should've won in normal time, the story of our season.

"We create so many chances, dominate the match, but we just don't do what's most important, putting the ball in the net."