Pirates continue fine form with win over Maritzburg

Monnapule Saleng and Terrence Dzvukamanja secured maximum points for Orlando Pirates as they edged struggling Maritzburg United 2-1 at Orlando Stadium on Friday night.

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Saleng’s goal came just before half time, with Dzvukamanja scoring in the second half to help Pirates record their second victory in a row in all competitions.

With head coach Jose Riveiro missing from the bench due to his two match suspension after being sent off in their last game against All Stars FC in the Nedbank Cup, assistant coaches Sergio Almenara and Mandla Ncikazi made sure the team got maximum points as they climbed to third place in the table with 31 points from 20 games.

Maritzburg’s poor run this season doesn’t seem to be stopping, with the team remaining in 15th spot with only 21 points from the same number of games as the Buccaneers. 

It was a slow start into the match, with the sides trying to find space to unlock each other’s defence, but both back lines remained solid with no real chances created.  

Pirates’ Ndabayithethwa Ndlondo was reduced to trying long range shots, but they weren’t fruitful.

United let a good opportunity pass by when Amadou Soukouna was played through on goal, but Tapelo Xoki dealt with the danger. 

Just before half time, Pirates finally broke the deadlock through a well taken goal by Saleng.

The tempo of the game went a bit higher in the second half, and Maritzburg could have got an equaliser in the 57th minute, but Human’s header went off target.

Diving header

Things got worse for United when the Buccaneers got the second goal of the match thanks to Dzvukamanja’s diving header in the 72nd minute, just shortly after Ndlondlo was denied by the upright.

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With five minutes left to full time, the team from KwaZulu-Natal were able to find the back of the net, thanks to a long range strike by Tumelo Njoti to make it 2-1.

There was some sort of belief in the United team that they could at least get away with a point in the game as they piled pressure on the Buccaneers

 But, the home side kept it tight at the back as they walked away with maximum points.