Jose Riveiro delighted after Orlando Pirates deliver Christmas cheer to their fans with thumping win over coachless Magesi FC

Father Christmas checked the list twice and delivered eight goals and three points to a very good Orlando Pirates side on Tuesday afternoon.

Orlando Pirates delivered an emphatic message to their Betway Premiership title rivals when they ran coachless Magesi FC into the ground with an 8-1 thumping at Orlando Stadium on Christmas Eve.

The result didn't take them to the top of the league table, but ensured that Mamelodi Sundowns went to bed with one eye open after their narrow win over AmaZulu in Durban. For the first time in many years, their stranglehold on league trophy is under serious threat.

Speaking to journalists after the game on Tuesday, Pirates coach Jose Riveiro praised his team for how they reacted in the second half after the scores were level at 1-1 at the break.

“I think in the second half they showed a lot of personality to keep going, to keep pushing, to keep looking for solutions and they got a big reward in the end with this amount of goals. We all expect a very tight race for the [title] at the top of the season," the Spaniard was quoted by iDiskiTimes.

However, despite the massive win, Riveiro stressed that after just nine games played, there was still a long way to go until the end of the season.

“This is just game number nine but you can see that it’s not going to be an easy race and every game counts, every goal [scored] every goal you concede, every goal difference. So we have to try and take advantage wherever the advantage is presented to us.

“Today we have an opportunity and I’m happy the guys didn’t speculate and continued to play vertical and continue attacking the spaces that were open and ready for us. And overall I think it’s a very good performance.”

IOL Sport