Cape Town - Orlando Pirates head coach Milutin Sredojevic has opened up about his decision to partner Gladwin Shitolo and Ntsikelelo Nyauza in central defence on Saturday evening.

The Buccaneers came out victorious against Chippa United at Orlando Stadium in their opening round Premiership fixture courtesy of a Thamsanqa Gabuza goal.

In his first competitive match as mentor Sredojevic opted to select Shitolo and Nyauza in order to curb the pace and resilience of Chippa’s Moeketsi Sekola, Menzi Masuku and Andile Mbenyane.

“We needed to field a central defence that has elements of speed and elements of correction in defending,” said the Serbian-born coach as quoted by KickOff website.

“So we put Nyauza, who is usually right-back, at central because of his aggressiveness. He had top class results from the point of preparation since we have started. He fully deserved to play and he has backed it up with the performance.

“Also, Shitolo, who is usually a central midfielder, we put him at centre back. We wanted to play two central defenders, one that has aggressiveness and speed and the other knows how to deal with the ball so that we have passing from behind. But I believe both of them did a good job.”

Meanwhile, the Buccaneers are back in action on Tuesday evening against Baroka FC for a midweek league clash at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.

Kick off is at 19:30.