Sredojevic: We did not lose our heads

Cape Town - Orlando Pirates coach Milutin Sredojevic praised his side's self-belief as they rallied from behind to secure a 1-1 draw with Baroka FC on Tuesday evening.

Baroka looked to be heading for a narrow victory at Orlando Stadium after claiming an early lead through Matome Mabeba in the 13th minute.

However, the Buccaneers held their nerve and eventually clawed their way back on level terms in the closing stages of the contest, Vincent Pule netting the all-important equaliser.

While he was pleased with the grit and determination displayed by his side, Sredojevic did admit the "essence of finesse" was missing on the night.

"Football is not about what you deserve, but what you get. If it was about deserving, we believe we deserved to win but football is like that," Sredojevic told SuperSport TV after the match.

"From one shot on target, the opponent got the goal. Before we conceded that goal, we were supposed to be up. We did not lose our heads.

"They had two points of defending, one point was to be tight and defend in numbers and on the other side they were a bit delaying the time and going on the ground and whatever.

"Whenever we had momentum they calmed it down. However, we believed. I need to give credit to the players. We scored that equalising goal, wishing to win but it was not meant to be.

"We need to pick this and know that in football it is not what you deserve, but what you get.

"We had possession and passion going around [the box] but we needed to have that fertility. We needed to attack the ball the way we have scored and have the second line of attack.

"That factor was missing, that essence [of] finesse in the last third. We had many tries but that finesse [was lacking]. You have it, you're winning."