Richards Bay head coach Brandon Truter has questioned giving the Man of the Match award to his goalkeeper Ian Otieno, as he felt Orlando Pirates did not put them under pressure.
The Natal Rich Boyz dropped points for the third successive game after a late goal by Kabelo Dlamini, eight minutes before time, gave Pirates a smash-and-grab victory.
Otieno was named the Man of the Match afterwards but Truter does not think they were under massive attack from the Soweto giants.
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"The man of the match for making a double save once off? We were not even really troubled, I think we had it in the bag or at least get something out of the game. A set play today and a set play against Chippa [led to us losing]," Truter told SuperSport TV.
"We're difficult to break down. Compliment to them but we also had our chances, miscued and rushed as well. Once they got the set-play, they scored from it. We had to make tactical changes. We were on the front foot, unlucky we ran out of time there. We had them on the back foot. But massive effort from the boys, thank you to them. I think we deserved a bit more but unlucky, congratulations to Pirates," Truter said.
The former AmaZulu tactician also explained why he had to wait until the dying minutes to make changes, as he finally threw in the likes of Thabiso Kutumela and Yanela Mbuthuma.
"We were still stable. It was not necessary to open it up. I think Sibanyoni and [Justice] Figuareido ran out of legs, hence we affected changes. They were open and vulnerable to a counter-attack, that's what we wanted to do," Truter explained.
"The goal caused us to reshuffle, there was nothing to lose at that stage as well."