Orlando Pirates coach Josef Zinnbauer believes the red card in the first half was the ‘turning point’ for his side against Cape Town City.

The Buccaneers stretched their winless run in the Absa Premiership to six matches after conceding a 1-0 defeat to City at Loftus Versfeld on Sunday.

The German mentor insists that Mpho Makola’s dismissal did not work in their favour, despite the advantage of having an extra man on the field.

‘We were good in the game, one or two chances [we got] to score, then we don’t score. The big [turning] point for me was the red card. Normally you have the advantage but for us in this time that advantage maybe … [it did not help us],’ Zinnbauer told SuperSport TV post-match.

‘We gave the players the message that “Come on, don’t be soft”, give one step more but it’s always easy to say, in the field this is the other way. The points for us was not to come [back] into the game.

‘The second half we fought, we had the penetration inside the box a lot of times but we don’t score. If you don’t score then it’s not possible you can win the game. When you have an opponent with one goal and you have zero, you stay deep, you defending very good.

‘I have to say the opponent made this very good, they made it a good defending. It’s the structure in the system and it’s not easy to find the solution. I cannot say to my team now that it was bad but it’s football,’ he continued.

‘All the guys now say against ten men or against nine on-field players you have to win but we know football. It’s football, it’s the reason for football. Normally you score one, you get a penalty and then you score, maybe you get the next, the next and the next. But you have no time, you play against the time, compliment to the other team they made a good defensive work today.’