Orlando Pirates shot to the summit of the Betway Premiership table following a 2-0 victory over 10-man Durban City FC at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Saturday.
After picking up maximum points on the road, the Buccaneers are now three points clear at the top of the table, overtaking Mamelodi Sundowns, with the two heavyweights now having played 12 league games each.
On the other hand, Durban City dropped a place on the table to position eight after Saturday’s defeat.
The Soweto giants positioned themself to go for the 2025 AFCON break, leading the standings before the title race resumes in January.
It was an afternoon Relebohile Mofokeng raised his hand to make the Bafana Bafana final AFCON squad after he was named in the starting lineup. He repaid coach Abdeslam Ouaddou’s decision to start him with a first-half assist and emerged as the Man of the Match.
Mbekezeli Mbokazi was back in central defence to partner Nkosinathi Sibisi, while Lebone Seema was not in the matchday squad. Sipho Mbule was an unused substitute.
Also featuring in the starting line-up was midfielder Patrick Maswanganyi, who returned to start for the Buccaneers, having struggled for regular football lately. On the other hand, Bafana Bafana hopeful Fezile Gcaba also had a point to prove as he faced a stern test on the flank from Mofokeng.
PIRATES SCORE IN EITHER HALF TO SINK DURBAN CITY FC
Durban City threatened in the early stages of the contest with some meaningful attacks, but lacked the cutting edge upfront, as the Buccaneers asked a few questions.
But a composed Evidence Makgopa thrust Pirates in front after 23 minutes by sending Durban City goalkeeper Darren Keet the wrong way off a supply from Mofokeng from the left.
It was Makgopa’s second goal in successive matches as he presented his case to return to AFCON with the national side. The former Baroka FC man now has four goals and three assists in 16 games across all competitions.
Mofokeng almost provided another assist four minutes into the second half, but Tshepang Moremi watched Keet stretching long to deny his low effort.
The Durban City goalkeeper, now a busy man, nearly gifted Pirates a goal on the hour mark when he came off his goal area to challenge Makgopa at the corner flag. But he was lucky that Moremi was slow to finish into an empty net a cross sent in by the Pirates scorer.
There was then a scary moment when the Durban City’s Congolese striker Jean Lwamba had to be rushed to the hospital by ambulance after coming second to a collision with Mbokazi.
Shortly after, substitute Oswin Appollis had his low shot closely off the target. Just as Pirates fans called for a struggling Maswanganyi to be taken off, the attacking midfielder responded by connecting an Appollis sleek feed to extend Pirates’ lead 13 minutes before time.
The home side then finished the match with a man down after captain Siphamandla Ncanana was red-carded in stoppage time.
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