Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro has hailed his team for showing great character in the 2-1 win over 10-man Stellenbosch FC at Athlone Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The Soweto giants came back from a goal down to beat Stellies in the first leg of the MTN8 semi-final.
It was Deon Hotto who broke the hearts of Stellies as the Namibian international scored a stoppage-time winner.
However, the home team, a man down after centre-back Thabo Moloisane was shown a straight red card for a studs-up challenge.
Patrick Maswanganyi took the lead through Ismael Toure on the stroke of halftime. This was the second consecutive match that Stellenbosch FC had to play with 10-man players after Devon Titus was sent off against Kaizer Chiefs in midweek.
Orlando Pirates hit back in the second half with two goals from Hotto and the in-form Zakhele Lepasa, who netted the equaliser in the 65th minute.
That was his 10th goal in eight games, all competitions in the new season. Maswanganyi was the provider for both Pirates’ goals, walking away with the Man of the Match award.
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“We really wanted to win here in Cape Town, and finally, we won as we couldn’t in the previous three games,” Jose Riveiro told SABC Sport after the game.
“I think we played a good game, too many different games in 90 minutes. The beginning was difficult for us, the Stellenbosch pressure. After the red card, it became even more difficult because of the lack of space.
“We had to change the plan as they were leading 1-0 at halftime. We did everything to make it (win) possible. The players did a fantastic job in the second half. “It’s the quality that the players have. They’re very talented, our forwards are very educated and they proved many problems, I’m very happy.”