Wasteful Pirates held by ten-man Maritzburg

Orlando Pirates couldn’t utilise their dominance over Maritzburg United to their full advantage, after the sides played to a goalless draw in a DStv Premiership tie at the Harry Gwala Stadium on Wednesday night.

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The home side finished the tie with 10 players, following a red card for Brandon Theron, but Pirates still did not do enough to beat the Team of Choice goalkeeper Marcel Engelhardt, who made a number of good saves to keep Maritzburg in the game.

This was the Buccaneers second successive draw in the league, and ten points from seven games so far puts them in sixth place

Maritzburg will be glad to have walked away with a point, with the KwaZulu-Natal based outfit having lost their last two matches prior to the Bucs clash.

Maritzburg have registered only seven points from the same number of matches and they are sitting in 11th place on the standings.

Striker Tshegofatso Mabasa was first to make a threat at goal, with the forward meeting a fine pass from Linda Mntambo, but his shot was saved by Engelhardt in the 15th minute.

Engelhardt was called up again into action five minutes later, denying Mabasa once more. The home side did have their moments with Lefa Hlongwane attacking on the right side, but their entries into the Pirates box were unsuccessful.

Pirates best chance of the first stanza came in the 33rd minute through Mntambo, who played a beautiful cross inside the Maritzburg box, but Terrence Dzvukamanja failed to convert from close range, as the teams went into the break deadlocked on 0-0.

A good run by Amadou Soukouna in the 50th minute presented the striker with a good opportunity to put Maritzburg in the lead, but his shot was blocked by Paseka Mako.

In the 66th minute, Theron got his marching orders following his second bookable offence, leaving Maritzburg with one player less.

Pirates continued to look better of the two sides in creating chances, but they still couldn’t get a goal.