Mako’s injury dampens mood in Pirates and Baroka stalemate

A collision between Orlando Pirates players, Richard Ofori and Paseka Mako dampened the mood with the latter left unconscious in the dying minutes of the DStv Premiership match at Peter Mokaba Stadium on Tuesday evening. 

Ofori had come out for a ball that caught him off his line when his trailing knee caught Mako in the head and he fell down. 

It took a while for the emergency services to get him off the field in an ambulance with both sets of players forming a guard shield.

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The incident happened a few minutes before the game ended and it was still goalless. 

It is taken as a joke when someone says ‘I wish both teams lose’ but it happened on Tuesday evening Orlando Pirates were held to a goalless draw by Baroka. The draw did nothing for either sides’ course in the DStv Premiership as they both needed the full points.

Baroka needed the points to get themselves off the relegation spots while Pirates needed them to keep their fight for second spot alive.

Pirates had the better of the ball in the first half but they were just not dangerous even when approaching the Baroka box. It was perhaps the change in arsenal up front that disrupted their potency. 

The technical team decided to start with Tshegofatso Mabasa who is a box striker instead of Kwame Peprah who moves around to open spaces for ball carriers like Deon Hotto and Kabelo Dlamini. 

The balls that Hotto crossed into the ball were easily dealt with by Baroka defenders who got to it first almost every time it was sent in. 

Bakgaga also had their half-chances especially from corner kicks but they still could not make anything of those even though they got to the ball first.

Broka became better in the second half and also had some moments going forward while keeping it tight at the back.

But Pirates made a few changes bringin in Thembinkosi Lorch, Fortune Makaringe and Wayde Jooste. They replaced Siphesihle Ndlovu, Deon Hotto and Bandile Shandu. 

The changes made some difference as momentum of the game went back to Pirates but they could still not make the right moves in the final third. 

And the momentous moment of the game happened in the 75th minute when Eskom did what they are best known for and switched off the lights, leaving the stadium and surrounding area in total darkness. 

The game resumes five minutes later after the generator was turned on and brought the lights back. A few minutes after this, the unfortunate incident happened.