ORLANDO Pirates coach Vladimir Vermezovic admitted he was getting worried that the Buccaneers were falling too far behind Absa Premiership leaders Kaizer Chiefs.
A 2-1 defeat to Mpumalanga Black Aces at Mbombela Stadium on Tuesday left Pirates trailing their Soweto rivals by a huge margin.
Bucs have had an inconsistent start to the season, winning four matches, drawing two and losing three, but Vermezovic has vowed to keep fighting to get the desired results on a regular basis.
"We are now too far from Kaizer Chiefs. But we have to fight. Every game is a new challenge and we know it's not going to be easy. We have to forget about this result against Black Aces," said the Serbian. "We now have to turn our attention to the cup game against Ajax [Saturday's Telkom Knockout tie]. It won't be easy, but we have to prepare well."
For Pirates to close the gap, Vermezovic said they had to improve on defending set-pieces.
Bucs were punished by Aces striker Collins Mbesuma, who was left unmarked in the box and headed home the opener.
Pirates' next league game is against Chiefs, who are always a threat from set-pieces.
"I think it was an interesting game against Aces. The second half was much better than the first half. But again we conceded a goal from a set-piece. It's our weakness. This is the ninth goal we concede from a set-piece," Vermezovic said.
"We work on this every day, but when we play a game I don't know what happens."
Pirates left back Thabo Matlaba could make a return from injury for the Telkom Knockout quarterfinal against Ajax.