Jose Riveiro blames poor pitch after Orlando Pirates' embarrassing defeat as Mamelodi Sundowns scored after 'one of our players was falling down' & Miguel Cardoso reveals how he masterminded Bucs' downfall and discloses what makes Ribeiro Costa a special player - 'Lucas is giving his share'

Mamelodi Sundowns opened a nine-point gap over Orlando Pirates after defeating the Sea Robbers 4-1 at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Lucas Ribeiro Costa scored twice, while Grant Kekana and Teboho Mokoena netted Masandawana's other two goals. Deon Hotto scored the consolation goal for Bucs.

Pirates coach Jose Riveiro and his Sundowns counterpart shared their perspectives on the match.

"Disappointing with the result. It was difficult to find ourselves today in this environment in both phases attacking and defending. We were not comfortable at all in the first half, two accidents put the game in a difficult space for us with the 2-0," Riveiro said on SuperSport TV. 

"We tried the second half to get closer, I think we managed to be better than Sundowns at the beginning of the second period. After the 2-1, I think the game was closer to us than them but they managed to find the net on the first occasion and from that moment the game was far from us.

"As I said, the first goal was a set piece coming from one of our players falling down [due to poor condition of the field], he’s provoking the action, I think that’s the origin of the corner," he added.

"The second goal is pretty much the same as a situation where we are falling and was a transition that Ribeiro finished very well and from the 2-0 it was very difficult to get back into the game in a place like this."

"A very difficult match, obviously we got a wonderful result that came from the work the players did, came from the strategy and the plan and from the mindset the players had during to win all the game," Cardoso said on SuperSport TV.

“We knew it would be tough, but we could make it beautiful, but we had to work hard, expecting the right moments to make our decision. These games are meant to be won. The most important thing now is Tuesday; we have another match in 72 hours. This is dramatic and a little bit in-human even.

"But let’s hope we can now recover and look forward to continuing to win, the next game is the most important of our lives. Pirates are a team that can harm you, they have wonderful players in the front to cope with a game like this you must be very strong. The full plan was always our defensive plan," he added. 

"We didn’t want to play from the back, we just wanted to respect the moment we have the ball and try to have it as much as possible. But we knew we could use the spaces and why we would have to work hard, the plan today was to be a team and we were a very strong team today and due to that we won."

"Lucas is giving his share, he is giving his share. We are trying to keep him excited about playing and happy, but we’re trying to make a team that can also please him and that he pleases the team," Cardoso said. 

"The values here are collective, he’s sharing the collective values, and he is much better on defense also. He is a more collective player, I hope he can be prepared to feed us a lot, whatever the sky's the limit for everybody here."

Sundowns will swiftly move on from their massive victory over Pirates since they have just two days to prepare for their upcoming league match against TS Galaxy on Tuesday.

Conversely, the Buccaneers are scheduled to face National First Division side Baroka FC in the Nedbank Cup Round of 16 game at Orlando Stadium on Saturday, February 15.