Stellenbosch FC suffered a 2-0 defeat to Orlando Pirates in a Betway Premiership encounter on Tuesday afternoon.

Stellies’ penultimate home match of the season ended in defeat at Athlone Stadium after the team from the Winelands suffered a 2-0 defeat against Orlando Pirates, with first half goals by Evidence Makgopa and Patrick Maswanganyi earning the Buccaneers all three points.

“I’m obviously disappointed in the result. I thought we lost the fight, not the football match,” Stellenbosch head coach Gavin Hunt said after the match. “We didn’t handle their directness, and they played off that.

“We’ve got to be better. We shouldn’t be conceding from standard situations, which we did. But, as I said before, we’ve done well to bounce back from where we were in January, and we’ll certainly compete again once we fix things up.”

Tuesday’s defeat saw Stellenbosch slip to 10th in the Betway Premiership standings and leaves the Club’s hopes of qualifying for next season’s MTN8 – a tournament in which Stellies reached the final of in each of the last two campaigns – hanging in the balance.

“I think we need nine points,” Hunt said. “We’re going to have to win the last three games now. I thought we should have won last week [against Polokwane City], and I thought we could get a point tonight and then go from there.

“But now, we’re going to have to win all three. It’s also against two teams at the bottom, so it’s going to be tough, because they will obviously be fighting for their lives. I think 41 points could get us there.”

The first of those three fixtures takes place later this week when Stellies take on newly-crowned Nedbank Cup champions Durban City on Friday. That match is followed by a home finale at Danie Craven Stadium on Saturday, 16 May, before the season concludes away to Marumo Gallants seven days later.