Orlando Pirates’ draw to Baroka feels like a loss – Mokwena

Orlando Pirates coach Rhulani Mokwena has congratulated midfielder Linda Mntambo for bagging his Man of the Match award but was left unhappy with how his men failed to protect their 2-0 lead against Baroka FC.

The Buccaneers were held to a 2-2 draw by Bakgaga Ba Mphahlele on Saturday afternoon at the Peter Mokaba Stadium, with the coach saying the deadlock is similar to a defeat.

Moreover, Mokwena admitted his men failed to deal with set-pieces whilst adding they need to improve.

"Congratulations to 'Piano' (Linda Mntambo) for Man of the Match again when he comes back as he played against Highlands Park he won the Man of the Match award again today, very good display, scored a very good goal and played exceptionally well," Mokwena told SuperSport TV.

"His (Kabelo Dlamini) mentality is right, he comes in from the bench, he doesn't sulk when he sits on the bench, he's got the right mentality, if you have the right mentality, football rewards you. Congratulations to him also, he did exceptionally well when he came on."

With his men having comfortably led 2-0 only to surrender the lead when skipper Happy Jele conceded an own goal before Gerald Phiri Junior made it 2-2, the 34-year-old manager bemoaned their failure to protect the lead.

"Especially when you're on a two-nil lead, it looks and feels like a loss, to be honest with you. But we give good games, that's what we do, we gave games with lots of goals, we gave good spectacles, so hopefully, the crowd enjoyed the spectacle today," added the coach.

"We struggled to deal with the set-pieces, the two throw-ins, two goals, we have to look at it, dead-ball situations.

“But we scored some very good goals today, goals with good moments and things that we practised.

“So sometimes it's just about perspectives and you focus on some of the good things that we're doing and we try to improve on the other things."