Roger de Sa @ Backpagepix

The current campaign has seen the Sea Robbers in inconsistent form, but Sunday’s win now takes them to second position on the league table.

For the Bucs coach it was a satisfying day – he was pleased at the manner in which his side bounced back after conceding the first goal, and he was happy to see his side being clinical in attack.

De Sa is hoping to use the win over the Tshwane rookies as a springboard for the season ahead.

“A bit of confidence now, three goals, I don’t remember the last time Orlando Pirates scored three goals.

“They really came at us, we expected that, and they caught us napping a bit with a soft goal.

“But we reacted pretty quickly and got it back to 1-1 and had control for most of the game. We wanted to keep our shape and we did it though the last 20 minutes were poor,” he said.

Another plus for de Sa was to see Zambian marksman Collins Mbesuma amongst the goals as he netted a brace.

“It was great to see Collins scoring. He’s still not at his best and at full fitness, so we are going to keep on working on him and good luck to him because he has been working really hard.

“And we’re still waiting for Benni to get back and hopefully we can perform going forward.”

AmaTuks coach Steve Barker meanwhile remained upbeat despite the loss, feeling that the score-line was not a true reflection of the game.

“I think the players gave their best so got to give credit to them. We hit the post and a minute later we were 2-1 down. So there’s a fine line between being up and being 2-1 down.

“Once we were behind we had to chase the game - it opened up which suited them and they got a third goal. But first half we held our own, second half we gave them too much possession.

“I’ve got full confidence we will bounce back. Pirates were tough opposition, the league champions, and I don’t think there was too much difference between the sides, so we got to keep our heads up and make sure we get something out of it.”