Following his side’s first win of 2014 in the Absa Premiership, Orlando Pirates coach Roger de Sa said ‘football is a funny game’.

Pirates ran out 2-1 winners over Ajax Cape Town on Monday night thanks to goals from Khethowakhe Masuku and Thabo Matlaba, but de Sa feels it is the worst his side have played this year.

In Pirates’ first two league games of 2014 they suffered a 2-1 loss to SuperSport United and a 1-1 draw to AmaZulu, and in both those games De Sa felt his side played better than in their win over the Urban Warriors.

“Football is a funny game,” said De Sa.

“It is probably the worst we have played in the last three games and it is the one we have won.

“Again we conceded a sloppy goal from a set-play and that is something we are trying to work on every day – it was a lapse of concentration.

“I also thought we had enough of the ball to score a third goal and bury the game, but I think the nerves set in a little bit.

“Things haven’t gone our way in the last two games, so obviously the nerves were setting in and the guys stopped playing a little bit, but at the end of the day it is the three points that count.

“The most important thing is winning, that is a major factor, we have to get used to winning again.

“It wasn’t pretty today, especially in the second half, we did get the goals, but at the end it got a bit scrappy and we allowed them to come at us a little bit.

“The guys did dig deep and got the result.”