Pirates tame Lions to reach Nedbank Cup quarterfinals

Orlando Pirates sailed through to the quarter-finals of the Nedbank Cup after a convincing 4-0 victory over 10-man Hungry Lions at the Orlando Stadium on Saturday.

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Pirates, who are on a mission to defend their Ke Yona Cup title, have now scored 10 goals without conceding any in their last two games of the competition having thrashed Crystal Lake FC 6-0 in the last 32 round.

It was a brilliant display by the Buccaneers against the Motsepe Foundation Championship club.

The first eight minutes of the match saw Lions with two chances from Raymond Daniels and Jan Modise, go to waste.

But, it was the Buccaneers who went on to take the lead through an own goal by Morena Monaheng who put the ball into his net while trying to make a clearance in the 21st minute.

Pirates were putting the visitors under a lot of pressure creating plenty of chances, but they couldn’t get the second goal with the game having gone past the half-hour mark.

The away side tried to catch Bucs on counter-attack, with their attempts looking dangerous, but couldn’t crack the Bucs back-four with Daniels shot in the 38th minute calmly saved by Melusi Buthelezi.

Just before the break, Pirates had a huge scare when Makhehleni Makhaula went down after clearing the ball, and he had to be stretchered off the field. He was replaced by Thalente Mbatha.

Coming from the break, Pirates looked energised probably because of the news that Makhaula is stable. They could have scored the second goal, but Relebohile Mofokeng hit the side net in the 51st minute.

A few minutes later, Lions were hit with a major blow when S’bongankonke Gamede got a straight red card after denying Maswanganyi a clear goal-scoring opportunity just outside the box. Mabasa was denied by the cross-bar from the resulted free-kick.

In the 65th minute, Mabasa finally got his goal after his low shot beat Lions keeper Glen Baadjies on the far right side of the poles to make it 2-0 for the home side before Saleng added the third goal in the 72nd minute.

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There was no way to get back into the game for Lions, with Pirates dominating the match and Mabasa sealed the match with a well-taken volley to register his brace and fourth goal for the Sea Robbers.