Orlando Pirates captain Innocent Maela has spoken out after his side’s disappointing 2-0 loss to Mamelodi Sundowns on Friday. The Buccaneers had their chances in the game, but were unable to capitalize on them, with Sundowns goalkeeper Ronwen Williams making a number of outstanding saves.
Sundowns haven’t conceded DStvprem goal since 10 Sept 2022
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73% CleansheetRonwen Williams is epic pic.twitter.com/mOvha0DmV3
— (@YELL0MAN) January 6, 2023
Maela expressed his disappointment at conceding the first goal from a set-piece, saying: “Very difficult results to take in you know, especially how we started the match. We had the game in our hands and for us to concede via a set-piece is so disappointing.”
Monnapule Saleng and Tapelo Xoki had two big chances for Pirates before Sundowns scored, but Williams kept them out. Maela was still optimistic despite the result, saying: “But we go back to the drawing board, look it was a good match you know, I think we had the opportunities and the possibilities to win the match.”
The match was played in pouring rain at Loftus Versfeld Stadium, and Maela thanked the supporters for showing up despite the bad weather conditions. He said: “Thank you so much to the supporters for coming through, it’s not the best weather conditions but they came out in numbers to support us and thank you so much to them for coming out.”
The result has been a major blow to Pirates’ league title ambitions, with Sundowns now 15 points ahead of them. The Sea Robbers will resume their league campaign when they travel to Cape Town City on Saturday evening.
