Johannesburg - Orlando Pirates coach Roger de Sa believes that their own mistakes led to their downfall after their 3-2 loss to Moroka Swallows on Tuesday night.

According to the Soccerladuma.co.za website, the Sea Robbers looked well on their way to bouncing back from their Nedbank Cup disappointment after taking a 2-0 lead over their traditional rivals in the first-half at Dobsonville.

Katlego Mashego brought the Dube Birds back into the game just before the break though and Lefa Tsutsulupa and Lerato Chabangu completed a thrilling comeback.

VIDEO: PSL: Moroka Swallows v Orlando Pirates Highlights

The result ensured that Pirates failed to regain top spot on the league table, and De Sa admits that his side should have killed the game off.

"I thought at 2-0 up we had the game pretty well wrapped. But we made some bad mistakes and they got their noses in there. We should have killed the game off, but we lacked mettle at the end and they took their chances," said De Sa.

"It was a bit of a football thriller. We should have bounced back, we did enough - I thought our game plan was pretty good. We made silly mistakes - bad marking, giving the ball away in our own half, we can't do that. We have to be better than that all around. A championship team... you can't give it away."

De Sa was also blunt about his feelings toward to the officiating in the match, after a number of questionable decisions.

"I think anybody that saw some of the decisions will know that it wasn't of the greatest standard. If he was a player I would have taken him off in the first 10 minutes," he added.