Mbatha revels in first goal for Pirates, looks forward to City tie

Thalente Mbatha has revealed his delight after netting his first goal for Orlando Pirates last weekend.

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Mbatha, who is on loan at Pirates from SuperSport United, scored the second goal in Bucs’ 4-0 win over Royal AM 4-0 in their DStv Premiership game at Harry Gwala Stadium last Sunday.

Patrick Maswanganyi, Relebohile Mofokeng, and Kabelo Dlamini netted the other goals for Pirates.

“It was a great feeling,” Mbatha told the Pirates media.

“It is actually a dream come true scoring my first goal for Orlando Pirates. I must thank the team, the staff and the technical team for the opportunity and support that they give me every day.”

Mbatha further revealed that he embraces the challenge of having to fight for his place in the Pirates starting team.

“It’s good competition,” Mbatha said. “It’s a good challenge and helps me stay on my feet and try to improve all the time. I cannot afford to make many mistakes. So I think the competition that we have in the team is healthy. We should all just play our game and whoever gets the opportunity must use it.”

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Mbatha will be looking forward to scoring another goal for Pirates and also helping his team overcome Cape Town City on Wednesday.

“As the coach says, we take each game as it comes.We take it one day at a time. I think we should prepare ourselves mentally and physically. It’s not going to be an easy game as we are playing away. If we do play the football we want and do what the coach tells us, we’ll definitely come back with the three points,” concluded Mbatha.

Will Pirates miss Maswanganyi?

Meanwhile, Pirates will be without their in-form midfielder Patrick Maswanganyi when they face City on Wednesday. Maswanganyi is suspended for this clash after collecting his fourth yellow card in the 4-0 demolition of Royal AM match last weekend.

Also missing this clash is Makhehleni Makhaula, who is also serving his one match suspension after collecting his fourth yellow card in the same game.