Mokwena: 'We didn't lose the match, we ran out of time'

Cape Town - Orlando Pirates caretaker boss Rulani Mokwena admitted he was disappointed to see his side lose after conceding four goals, especially having scored three goals of their own.

The Buccaneers were brought crashing back to earth on Saturday evening as Gaving Hunt's Bidvest Wits came out on top in a seven-goal thriller at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban.

This after Bucs had claimed their first win under the interim coach in 2-1 triumph over Chippa United.

It was a real challenge for the Soweto giants on Saturday, though, as they were forced to chase the game time and time again. Pirates twice rallied from behind, before goals from Cole Alexander and Mxolisi Macuphu gave Wits a two-goal cushion with just nine minutes remaining in the game.

Gabadinho Mhango managed to pull one back in the closing stages of the contest, scoring against his former employers to give Bucs hopes of snatching a late draw, but it was a case of too little, too late as Wits held on to claim all three points.

"As a football supporter, a good game of football to watch. As the football coach of Orlando Pirates, proud of the character, proud of our fight and never-say-die attitude," Mokwena told SuperSport TV after the match.

"I think, it was clear to see that we didn't lose the match but we ran out of time. But disappointed of course to lose the match of course.

"Disappointed that we conceded four goals. When you score three, you should normally win the match so disappointed that we lost the match having scored three goals."

He added: "We got a responsibility. We are Orlando Pirates. As Orlando Pirates our job is to serve. We are servants, we are not coaches, we're not football players.

"We are here to serve the magnitude of the people that supports this club, ours is to make sure that we are even prepared to lose our lives for this club.

"And that's the responsibility that we have. Last week we did the same and we won the match. This time we scored three and were very dominant from the start.

"Unfortunate to concede from the free-kick and then you start on the back foot and change the game and do what ever it takes."

- TeamTalk Media