SuperSport pay the penalty as Pirates move to the top

Orlando Pirates continued with their winning momentum as they edged SuperSport United 2-1 at the Orlando Stadium on Saturday night.

Goals from Zakhele Lepasa and Tshegofatso Mabasa canceled out Teboho Mokoena’s early goal of the match.

This was Pirates fourth win a row having beaten Kaizer Chiefs twice in the MTN8 and edging Bloemfontein Celtic with a 1-0 in the DStv Premiership.

Pirates now have eight points, while the Pretoria outfit remain on six points in the league.

Mokoena got SuperSport into a good start after Pirates failed to clear corner within six minutes f.

The midfielder tapped in a loose ball inside the box to give the visitors a lead.

But that goal didn’t lead Pirates to lose their plot as they went in hard trying to get an equaliser

Bucs got a free-kick in the 11th minute close from the box, but the home side failed to utilise that opportunity leaving Matsatsantsa to clear the ball.

SuperSport had a chance through Evans Rusike who attempted a long range strike from outside the box, but it was off target in the 19th minute.

As the game went on, both sides tried their best to get a goal, but nothing seemed to be going their way leaving Matsatsantsa to go into the break on the drivers seat.

Pirates got a chance to get back back into the game in the earlier minutes of the second half after Siyabonga Nhlapo brought down Lepasa inside the box. The striker stepped in to take the spot-kick and made no mistake giving Pirates a chance to get back into the game in the 50th minute to make it 1-1.

The Buccaneers suffered a huge blow when Vincent Pule, one of their dangerous attackers was forced out of the game due to an injury and subsequently replaced by Terrence Dzukamanja in the 61st minute.

Four minutes later, SuperSport’s Bradley Grobler who has been quite for the most part of the match sneaked in with a header, but it went just wide Pirates keeper Richard Ofori’s goals.

Grobler got another chance to snatch a winner for the visitors in the 85th minute, but he couldn’t connect with the ball.

A couple of a seconds later, a miscommunication by SuperSport defenders led to Pirates second goal of the match by Mabasa who made no mistake taking advantage of the defensive error to find the back of the net in the later of the game.

That late goal was enough to give Bucs the winner and continuing their winning streak.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.