Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro has hailed the impact of Terrence Dzvukamanja who was jeered by his own fans before making his way onto the pitch at Orlando Stadium.
The out of favour Zimbabwe forward is said to be in the final months of his contract before departing the club and has not really endeared himself to the Buccaneers faithful since making his switch from the now-defunct Bidvest Wits.
Four goals in 58 games since his arrival has seen many question his ability to represent the club and as a foreign player, he holds one of the five foreign quota spots in their squad.
However, the 28-year-old came on to make it 2-1 before fellow substitute Vincent Pule added a third, both coming in second-half stoppage time.
“With the players we have in the squad, the quality we have in every position, the forwards are not an exception,” Riveiro said when asked by iDiski Times about their impressive displays in training this week.
“The competition is difficult, it’s hard to make it in the starting eleven, it’s also very difficult to make it into the [matchday] 20 list – so when the players are on the field it means they were having a good time [in training] during the week. So the ones who were in the [squad] today, means they did a good job in [training].”
With only 23 minutes played in the 2022/23 season prior to his cameo role, Dzvukamanja handed the usually stone-faced Riveiro plenty to smile about after the game and he admits he was delighted at how he silenced the critics.
“In this case as an individual I’m so happy that it was justice, [Terrence] came in against all the odds, he was very badly received [by the fans] and he managed to score, which is going to very important for the team,” he continued.
“That’s why they [Terrence and Vincent] are here, to come on and do their best and if we all help them to do it, we all support them in difficult moments… it’s not the same [scenario] going in [as a substitute in] the last 20 minutes and leading 3-0, than going with a responsibility to change the result.
“I think Terrence and all the players who came off the bench did a fantastic job, not only because we [scored] – because it’s a reality that he’s not been playing regularly coming into the game he was in a very difficult scenario.
“Maybe another player would say it’s not my worries, it’s not my business [to change] the result tonight and you could see it was totally opposite in this case, Vincent and Terrence will have a good night.”
