Pirates' perfect start is better than my century – Riveiro

As much as he's proud that he's reached 100 matches as Orlando Pirates coach, Jose Riveiro rates the feat of setting a new club record for best-ever-winning start to a season higher than his century.

It's a privilege for me, it's an honour to get this opportunity to be in this position where I am right now... to represent a club like Orlando Pirates as a head coach.Jose Riveiro

Pirates beat Richards Bay 1-0, courtesy of Evidence Makgopa's goal, at Orlando Stadium on Tuesday to set a new record of winning their first seven league fixtures in Riveiro's 100th game in charge of the side. Riveiro, who joined in July 2022, is the third Bucs coach to reach 100 games in the PSL era, following in the footsteps of Ruud Krol (119) and Milutin Sredojevic (107 over two stints).

“Winning the first seven games of the season is probably the most important [feat] than the 100 games [milestone], in my opinion. That the boys have managed to break one record, tells a lot about how difficult it is to win consistently, to win one game after the other until getting seven [isn't easy],'' Riveiro said.

“We started a new project here two years and four months ago with a three-year contract, so every time you start a project you want to finish the project... not counting how many games you're going to be in charge of, but you count intending to do your best.

“It's a privilege for me, it's an honour to get this opportunity to be in this position where I am right now... to represent a club like Orlando Pirates as a head coach.''

Riveiro believes he's lucky to have been in charge of Pirates for this long, attributing that to the success the club has achieved under his guidance as they've won four cups in two years.

“I am a very fortunate person to have that honour. The number of games [he's overseen at Bucs] is related to our performance and that we have an excellent team this season, one season ago, two seasons ago... we've always managed to compete properly,'' Riveiro said.

“If you go through those 100 matches, I think you'll find a higher amount of good moments than bad moments for us as a team. I am proud we've achieved as a team so far and I am looking to the future with optimism.''

Pirates' seven wins from their first seven league games so far

September 18: v Chippa 2-1

September 24: v Polokwane 3-0

September 29: v Bay 0-1

October 22: v SuperSport 2-0

October 25: v AmaZulu 2-1

October 29: v Galaxy 0-2

November 5: v Bay 1-0

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