Pirates coach hails 'improved mental approach' after snapping Chiefs losing streak

Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro said their much-improved mental space played a huge role in their breakthrough 2-1 Nedbank Cup semi-final win against fierce rivals Kaizer Chiefs on Saturday.

The fact that the game went to 120 minutes was something the Buccaneers were accustomed to considering their round of 16 and quarter-final successes were played over two hours.

However, getting past Chiefs proved to be a difficult task, especially with Amakhosi having won the previous five derbies.

Riveiro didn't want to delve into why their mental space wasn't where it was supposed to be, but said there were certain puzzles in their way of playing that fitted perfectly from the lessons gained from the two league losses this season.

MATCH REPORT | Mthethwa magic drives Pirates to Nedbank Cup final with thrilling win over Chiefs

"Everything was good today and we managed to play with our rhythm, but losing games is not nice and isn't funny," Riveiro said.

"Our obligation is to learn from these games and now it's easy to say that because we've won this game.

"Until we did the things we wanted to in the rhythm that we wanted, you could say we did better things than we did in the previous game.

"Our mental approach to this game was different to the other games because I think for the previous derbies, we weren't in a good space.

"There were many things that affected us that I can't say out loud that didn't allow us to be in the condition that we wanted to be in.

"In this game, things were different in our camp, and it showed in that we were competitive in a scenario that we weren't competitive in before."

RECAP | FT: Nedbank Cup – Kaizer Chiefs 1-2 Orlando Pirates

Riveiro admitted that they unnecessarily allowed Chiefs to get back into the game