Joel Masutha Bittersweet After Orlando Pirates Defeat!

Joel Masutha Bittersweet After Orlando Pirates Defeat! The minnows lost to the Buccaneers over the weekend.

Venda Football Academy lost 2-1 away to Orlando Pirates in the Nedbank Cup on Saturday night. Head coach Joel Masutha was happy with the performance but disappointed in the result.

Orlando Pirates 2:1 Venda Football Academy – Nedbank Cup Last 16

Kermit Erasmus opened the scoring for the hosts in the first stanza. The visitors were able to equalize when Edmore Chirambadare capitalised on a Deon Hotto error.

Star man Thembinkosi Lorch was able to find the winner for The Buccaneers in extra time.

“I would be very much unfair and ungrateful if I complain about the players’ effort.” Masutha told SuperSport TV after the loss.

“This is what we expected, we wanted to test ourselves against the best and I feel the boys gave a good account of themselves. I just hope we put in the same effort in our league games

“During our analysis we detected that Pirates is a team that has been scoring early goals so we planned to go with a medium block and let them come at us so we can try to catch them on a break. So, I think that hindered us a little bit in terms of ball retention, but after 17 or so minutes that’s when we came out of our shells, and we started playing.

“So, I can say that was a really tactical plan and the boys tried their best to follow everything that we asked them to do.

“When you get a goal, against such a big team it always gives you hope. And as you know that the Nedbank [Cup] is the cup of dreams, so then you start dreaming and then we were almost there, but I also think that the gulf in terms of experience played a role.

“I think we also showed a bit of inexperience in the way we conceded the second goal. I can say that for me it’s a bittersweet feeling you know.

“I’m extremely happy with the effort and application from the boys, mi just bitter with the way we conceded the second goal.” He added.

Man of the Match: Miguel Timm (Orlando Pirates). Joel Masutha Bittersweet After Orlando Pirates Defeat!