Pirates held to a draw by Swallows in Soweto derby

Orlando Pirates missed a chance to go to second place on the DStv Premiership standings after they were held to a 1-1 draw by Swallows FC at the Dobsonville Stadium on Tuesday night.

The Buccaneers had taken an early lead through Bandile Shandu, who got his second goal of the club in as many matches, but it was later canceled out by Rudzaigh Gamildien later in the first half from a penalty kick.

It was certainly not a good result for Pirates, who came into the match after a convincing 2-0 victory over TS Galaxy, while the Birds were desperate for points after losing 1-0 to Marumo Gallants in their previous game.

Pirates remain in third place on the log standings, now with 24 points after 16 games, while Swallows go to 13th place with 13 points from the same number of matches with the Buccaneers. 

It was a start that any coach would have loved for the Buccaneers, as Shandu found the back of the net as early as the third minute into the game.

But the home side weren’t backing down, as they went in search of an equaliser. It took only 12 minutes for Swallows to respond after Keletso Makgalwa was brought down inside the box and the referee pointed to the penalty spot, scored by Gamieldien.

The game became quite a balanced affair, as both sides managed to create some half chances, but Swallows looked more likely to get the second goal, but the match went into the break with the score remaining level on 1-1.

In the 54^th minute, a good looking ball found Shandu inside the Swallows box, but he unfortunately collided with goalkeeper Jody February.

As the game went on, some good attacks were created from both ends, but the final passes and being lethal in front of goals were missing from the two teams.

Swallows will be on the road in their next game, as they travel to the Mother City for a meeting with Cape Town City on Saturday, while the Sea Robbers will be looking for a much better display when they visit log leaders Mamelodi Sundowns on Friday.