Ndlovu salutes Orlando Pirates spirit 

The plan against Cape Town City was to take charge of the tie from the early moments, which transpired exactly the way they wanted, says Orlando Pirates midfielder Siphesihle Ndlovu after the game.

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Ndlovu and his teammates started the game on a high note by scoring two goals in the first five minutes of the encounter which saw them beating the Mother City club 2-0 at the Orlando Stadium on Tuesday.

Unlike in some of their previous matches, Bucs made use of their early chances, which worked well for them as the club continued to create scoring chances.

The margin would have been much bigger had Pirates took advantage of a leaking City rearguard, while Bucs back four remained solid at the back with only minor mistakes which they were able to get away with.

Deon Hotto got the first goal for Bucs, while Vincent Pule scored the second. This was Pule’s third goal of the campaign and third one against the Mother City based club having scored a brace in the first round of their league match which ended 2-2 last year.

“It was a great team effort, we had to grind, we had to fight and we had to be united to win this game. It was very important for us to close the game early something which we managed to do. I’m very happy with the team, we worked very well together,” said the Bucs midfielder.

During the match, Ndlovu had a head collision with teammate Thabang Monare, which saw the former Bidvest Wits player leaving the pitch early due to the injury sustained while Ndlovu soldiered on.

The former Maritzburg United midfielder was named man-of-the-match at the end and he explains that the incident between him and Monare was a mistake and it was all about fighting for the team.

“We are obviously fighting, you have to take the responsibility. Whoever comes there has to take the responsibility because we didn’t want to concede. We only wanted to win. So, what happened wasn’t on purpose, but it was a mistake. We are fighting, we are teammates and we had to fight for the team,” he added.

“I had to stay concentrated, I had to stay in the game, I had to contribute to the team. Whatever happened, happened it is a game of football. I’m very happy at the end of the day I got the reward.

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