Dondol Stars were knocked out of the Nedbank Cup quarter-finals following a 5-4 defeat against Orlando Pirates on penalties at the New Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The DStv Premiership giants, Pirates, started the game brightly, pushing forward in numbers, but they were guilty of being very wasteful in front of goals.
Despite being wasteful in front of goals, Pirates never slowed down, as they wanted to show the Gauteng ABC Motsepe League outfit who are the big boys.
As the first half wore on, it was the home side attacking and the ‘Happy People’ scrambling to get back.
But, the unfazed Buccaneers continued to look to be the brighter team, with the hosts giving the ball away cheaply.
Pirates truly showed plenty of desire to wrap up the first period in front, however, luck was not on their side at the time.
BOTH SIDES LEVEL AT BREAK
The game went into the half-time break with a 0-0 scoreline.
In the second stanza, Dondol had looked limited and their recklessness at the back hurt them as Pirates scored an opener through Thembinkosi Lorch in the 55th minute.
Interestingly, just two minutes after the restart, Dondol found an equaliser courtesy of Tebogo Makungo.
The showdown turned scrappy and congested as the two teams looked to establish control in the middle of the park.
As the half progressed, it was an encouraging period for the South African football third-tier, who wanted to bury the game in regulation time.
However, Jose Riveiro’s boys spent the majority of the second half toiling at their opponents’ goals, but couldn’t break through Dondol’s solid defence.
Having played out a 1-1 draw after regulation time, the game went into extra time.
THE GAME ENDS 1-1 IN REGULATION TIME
After 120 tiresome minutes, nothing could separate both sides as they played out to a 1-1 draw which resulted into penalty shootouts.
In the end, it was Pirates who held their nerve to win 5-4 on spot-kicks and dump out Dondol of the Nedbank Cup in Polokwane.
As a result, the Bucs are through to the semifinals of the Nedbank Cup.
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