Micho Sredojevic Orlando Pirates

Micho Sredojevich, coach of Orlando Pirates during at Orlando Stadium, Johannesburg. ©Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix

Micho rues silly mistakes as Orlando Pirates bomb out of Nedbank Cup

Orlando Pirates will rue the silly mistakes that saw them bomb out of the Nedbank Cup on penalties.

Micho Sredojevic Orlando Pirates

Micho Sredojevich, coach of Orlando Pirates during at Orlando Stadium, Johannesburg. ©Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix

Orlando Pirates coach Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredojevic insists that his side were unlucky to be knocked out of the Nedbank Cup by Black Leopards.

The Limpopo club put the Soweto giants away 5-4 on penalties after the match ended 1-1 and extra time failed to produce a winner.

Justin Shonga had given Orlando Pirates the lead just after the half hour mark but Musonda Mwape would level the scores just eight minutes later.

“We are fully aware that penalties are a lottery and you never know what will happen, it can go either way,” Sredojevic told SuperSport TV.

“We tried out best throughout the game, from the start before conceding that goal against the run of play.

“Instead of taking the opponents to the counter-attack we conceded from the counter-attack. We paid from the silly mistakes we made later on.

“We tried our best in regular and extra time to attack and create chances, throwing all available attacking players forward but it was not meant to be whilst trying our best.”

Pirates lost the Telkom Knockout final to Baroka on penalties last year having led in regulation time and led on penalties. The same sequence saw them exit the Nedbank Cup at the first hurdle this weekend. Micho said that the defeat was made that much harder to swallow for how it came.

Micho added: “We went to penalties and had the advantage. This was the fourth time we had the advantage in penalties and we missed them.

“It’s much more of a mental than football aspect, but it is very hard to accept especially knowing that we have given everything,”

Pirates face ES Tunis in a Caf Champions League group stage match at Orlando Stadium with kickoff scheduled for 21:00 SAST.