Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro is encouraged by a youngster’s dull debut but insists there is still plenty for him to learn.
Nkota impresses on full debut
Teenage winger Mohau Nkota produced an impressive substitute cameo in Pirates’ 3-2 defeat to Magesi in the Carling Knockout. That earned him a start and full Betway premiership debut in the Buccaneers’ 2-0 win over SuperSport. He played 65 minutes in the workmanlike success and manager Riveiro likes what he sees. Pirates now have four wins from four and sit at the summit of the league table as they embark on a quest to wrestle the title from Sundowns.
“It’s just the beginning for him,” he told SuperSport TV via iDiski Times.
“He needs to understand that he needs to understand that this is just one game. He needs to improve a lot of things still.
“I think he played 65 minutes with his own personality. What matters to me, with some accuracy and some mistakes.
“But it’s just the beginning for him because in professional nothing comes for free.”
Mofokeng turns 20
The jewel in Pirates’s crown is Relebohile Mofokeng. He’s quickly evolved from a talented prodigy into a full Bafana international and key operator for the club. The wildly gifted star is no longer a teenager and it’s felt like he’s been ready for the elite level for a long time.
His languid, fluid style lends itself well to the frenetic pace of the Betway Premiership and he can slow things down and then accelerate again as he pleases. Mofokeng is an inverted, right-footed winger operating on the left-hand side, adept at going inside or outside his marker, making him the perfect modern winger and a complete nightmare for opposition defenders and managers. Mofokeng also takes up central positions to score crucial goals. He’s been on the score sheet in two separate cup finals for the Buccaneers and he just turned 20 today. From humble beginnings with the Transnet School of Excellence, this Sharpeville-born footballer has the world at his feet.
Will Nkota make the grade at Pirates?
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