“I can say Mamelodi was the first half of Sundowns, Pirates was the second half,” Ouadou said.
Orlando Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouado has urged his charges to remain balanced, saying despite the defeat to Mamelodi Sundowns, there are still plenty of games left before the end of the season.
It came as the Brazilians ended the Buccaneers' 11-game winning run and reduced the gap between themselves and log leaders, Pirates, to three points, with a game in hand on the Tshwane giants.
Brian Lyon's two first-half goals gave the defending league champions a vital 2-1 win in the Betway Premiership match at a packed FNB Stadium on Wednesday night. Patrick Maswanganyi scored a consolation goal for Pirates in the second half.
Read more: Lyon inspires Sundowns to victory over Pirates in key title race
After the defeat, Ouddu described the tie as a game of two halves and insisted that the race for the league title was still open.
“I think we had two halves, one where we wanted to be compact and play in transition and I think it worked. It worked because we recovered a lot of balls and we created the most effective chances, unfortunately we were not efficient in the first half,” Ouadou told SuperSport TV.
“It's very difficult to come in with 2-0 at half-time, but I think the boys did well in the second half. We managed to score early. We pressed, but we didn't manage to score the second goal.
“I can say that Mamelodi Sundowns had the first half, Pirates had the second half but did not score the second goal, so we are a bit disappointed.
“We still have games, nothing is lost but we have to play until the end,” the Moroccan said.
Ouaddou was pleased with his team's second-half performance and felt the Buccaneers deserved to take something from the game.
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“I think the approach is the second half because we are losing 2-0 we have to change something so we went to put a bit of pressure on them, something that certainly the players know because we have been doing it since the beginning of the season. And I think they did well in the second half, unfortunately we missed that in the first half,” Owaddu commented.
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