Orlando Pirates gave outgoing head coach Jose Riveiro a memorable send-off with a commanding 3-0 victory over Golden Arrows in their Betway Premiership clash.
Tshegofatso Mabasa broke the deadlock, while second-half goals from Bandile Shandu and Kabelo Dlamini secured a convincing win, firmly securing second place in the league for the Buccaneers.
The Soweto giants had already announced that this would be Riviero’s final game in charge after three years in the role and he would be released early from the remainder of his contract.
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The Spanish mentor has guided the Buccaneers to three MTN8 trophies and two Nedbank Cup titles in his three seasons in charge and made the generally made the Ghost faithful happy again.
The Pirates players would have been motivated to make sure their mentor departs on a happy note and got off to a good start when Mabasa opened the scoring after 15 minutes.
It was good work down the left by the dynamic Relebohile Mofokeng, who danced around Arrows defenders like they were not on the pitch, before squaring to Mabasa who applied the finish – the forward running straight to the Pirates bench to embrace Riveiro.
The Sea Robbers were putting on a show for the fans but only went into the halftime break with a 1-0 lead but that soon changed after the interval.
The home team doubled their lead on the hour mark when Shandu bundled the ball into the back of the net when Arrows goalkeeper Ismail Watenga was at fault.
Just five minutes later it was 3-0 when Dlamini curled in a beautiful free-kick into the far-corner that found Watenga wanting again.
That wrapped up a comfortable win and a fitting ending to Riveiro’s time in charge, as he leaves Pirates in a better place than when he arrived.