Dondol Stars takes the Mighty Buccaneers down to the wire

Dondol Stars’ Nedbank Cup dream may have crumbled at the hands of Orlando Pirates but the Mamelodi side can take solace from its audacious play that took the Mighty Buccaneers down to the wire.

The Sea Robbers, as Pirates are also fondly known to their avid fans, secured a semi-final berth in the ‘David versus Goliath’ cup through the lottery of penalty kicks that saw the Soweto giants marching to the semis on a 5-4 scoreline after the teams were deadlocked 1-1 after ninety minutes and extra time.

The Buccaneers scored all their penalties while Dondol scored four and the last one was saved by the keeper after substitute Whitehead Nameka struck a lame kick right into the palms of a diving Sipho Chaine.
Dondol started the game at the New Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane, Limpopo, like a house on fire, hoping to score an early goal or so, and the entire first half of play belonged to Dondol as the youngsters ran rings around Pirates as they stamped their authority on the game but were not sharp enough in terms of finishing their numerous moves.

The first 45 minutes ended in a 0-0 stalemate but had Dondol being clinical in front of goals. A different script could have been written on the team’s Nedbank Cup dream run which saw the side taking the scalps of giants like SuperSport United and AmaZulu in round 32 and 16 respectively.
After the halftime pep talk by coach José Riveiro, who had indicated earlier in a press conference that Dondol was no piece of cake, must have reiterated his message in the dressing room and urged his players to take the game to the youngsters.

This was evident as the Sea Robbers came into the second stanza as a different team that played its normal football, knocked the ball around and started asking questions from the Dondol keeper Siphamandla Gumede.
They were rewarded in the 57th minute when Thembonkosi Lorch hit a pile driver that left Gumede bamboozled as it rattled the back of the net but that celebration was shortlived by a quick reply from Dondol in the 59th minute through a brilliant header by Tebogo Makhungo to level the scoreline.

From then on, it was game on as both sides sought to get that goal which could potentially be the winner of the match but it never came. Dondol’s Alex co-coach Vincent ‘Young Master’ Rammoni and his colleague Khuliso Rashamuse exchanged harsh words with their Pirates counterparts and the referee had to intervene.

“It was a very tough game cause we were playing big and experienced guys and we had our good moments to seal the game in the first half but our decision-making wasn’t up to standard.

“As much as we wanted to advance further in this journey, we can take it [the loss] cause we still using lots of young boys and I believe we will help them to keep growing and improve their game holistically. Our big up goes to the players and those fans who stood by us in this dream journey,” Rammoni told Alex News.