Pirates end Cup Run

Caretaker coach Augusto Palacios has expressed his disappointment after defending champions Orlando Pirates were knocked out of the Nedbank Cup by Free State Stars at the weekend.

Palacios insists that his charges need to be more dominant when playing at home as this was not the case on Saturday.

“We cannot be reacting all the time when we play at home,” said Palacios, who was referring to the sides’ apparent casual start in the match against Stars. “We should be winning games that we play at home. We cannot allow the visiting team to dictate terms on our own turf.

Despite his disappointment however, Palacios says there is a silver lining: “Although we failed to qualify to the next round of the competition, I am pleased with the spirit of the team as they were able to get back from a goal down and pushed the game into extra time…this is a positive sign.”

He added: "We just lack that killer touch; but I’m going to work on that this week.”

Pirates will host Free States Stars again but this time in an all-important ABSA Premier Soccer League encounter on Wednesday night.

The match will be played at Orlando Stadium and Kick-off is at 19.30.