NEWS: Disappointed Jose Riveiro to analyse Orlando Pirates’ shock defeat to Richards Bay

A 36th-minute Sanele Barns goal was all that separated the two teams in a tense DStv Premiership clash at the Orlando Stadium to leave the Bucs in third.

READ: Orlando Pirates stunned by Richards Bay, Cape Town Spurs relegated from DStv Premiership

The only consolation for Riveiro’s side is that second-placed Stellenbosch also suffered a surprise loss, as they went 2-0 to Moroka Swallows.

The result left Pirates a point adrift of Stellies with two matches of the season remaining.

Reflecting on the game, Riveiro insisted his side played their normal game but were simply not able to score.

“As usual, we will do a collective analysis of the performance and I’m sure that if I have this feeling after I’ve lost, just a few minutes ago, that my team was playing as good as we could today, at least in the the first half, it’s true in the second half we were a more, not disorganised, but tried something different and didn’t get what we were looking for,” Riveiro said post-match.

“Like I said, we have the opportunity to do an objective analysis of the game and show the players, we are still performing the same way than in the previous seven games where we got the results.

“The only difference today, we didn’t score, we didn’t manage to put the ball in the net like in the previous games, but everything else, the concentration, the pace, the desire, the level of aggression – everything was there.”

A determined Riveiro added that his side will dust themselves off and go again, against TS Galaxy and SuperSport United in their final two league games.

“That’s why I said, in my opinion, it’s a defeat that won’t affect us at all, there’s not going to be space to feel sorry for ourselves,” Riveiro added.