Pirates annihilate hapless Disciples in Champions League clash

Orlando Pirates handed hapless Disciples FC of Madagascar a 4-0 drubbing to go through to the second preliminary round of the CAF Champions League at Orlando Stadium on Friday evening.

The Buccaneers will next face either Africa Stars or Jwaneng FC in the next round who play on Saturday. Stars lead Jwaneng 1-0 from the first leg.

It was clear from the beginning that Pirates were looking for an early goal to settle the nerves and they thought they had found it in the third minute through Tshegofatso Mabasa, but the goal was ruled offside.

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The Bucs faithful didn’t have to wait long for the opening goal though as Pirates soon found themselves in the lead through an own goal by Andonianiana Andrianavalona.

The visitors then found themselves two goals down following some nice build-up from Pirates, which was eventually finished by Relebohile Mofokeng in the 24th minute.

Patrick Maswanganyi made it 3-0 for Pirates with a beautifully taken goal five minutes later to take the wind off the visitors’ sails.

Monnaoule Saleng wasted a good chance to triple the Buccaneers’ lead in the 32nd minute when he found himself unmarked inside the box, but he shot wide of goals,

Disciples made three changes two minutes later in an effort to try and change the complexion of the game, but Pirates continued to dominate the game.

Saleng thought he had made amends of his earlier miss in the 34th minute when he scored with a header from a Deon Hotto cross, but the goal was ruled offside.

The visitors appealed for a penalty towards the end of the first half, but the referee waved play on and Pirates took their three-goal lead into the half time break.

Mabasa thought he had scored his first CAF Champions League a minute before the hour mark, but the goal was disallowed by the assistant referee on the far side. much to the striker’s disappointment.

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Saleng also thought he had finally scored in the 72nd minute when he pounced onto a loose ball and put it into the back of the net, but again the assistant referee raised his flag for an offside.

Substitute Karim KImvuidi put the final nail into the Disciples coffin with a cool finish in referee’s optional time.