Pirates, City play to 3-3 thriller

Orlando Pirates and Cape Town City played out a 3-3 thriller in their Absa Premiership clash at Orlando Stadium in Soweto on Saturday afternoon.

The result sees the Buccaneers move up to sixth spot on the log with nine points from seven matches, while the Citizens are up to 10th with eight points from their seven outings.

City got off to a perfect start, establishing a two-goal advantage inside the opening nine minutes of the match.

The first arrived in the seventh minute, with Thabo Nodada picking up a loose ball and driving toward the edge of the box before firing home a long-range shot which left goalkeeper Joris Delle stunned.

The second arrived just a couple of minutes later, with the Cape Town team putting together a flowing move from defence to attack which ended with Kermit Erasmus coolly sending a shot past Delle for a 2-0 lead.

The Buccaneers backline appeared to be all at sea.

It should have been 3-0 just before the midway point of the first half, as City winger Fagrie Lakay sprung the offside trap down the left flank and came inside to be faced one-on-one with the ‘keeper, but he was unable to get the better of Delle.

Instead Pirates clawed a goal back in the 23rd minute in fortunate circumstances: captain Happy Jele fired off a speculative long-range shot which was heading well wide, but it took a big deflection off Taariq Fielies which wrong-footed Peter Leeuwenburgh and saw the deficit reduced to 1-2 for the home side.

The remainder of the first half turned into a somewhat scrappy affair, but that didn't stop Pirates from taking advantage of some poor defending from the visitors, as Tshegofatso Mabasa continued his excellent recent form with a superbly-taken goal in the final minute of regulation time.

The striker buried a low, left-footed shot after being put in behind the defence by Kabelo Dlamini to leave the game locked at 2-2 at the break.

Tshegofatso Mabasa continued his fine goal-scoring form with his 4th goal in three matches for Orlando Pirates. #AbsaPrem pic.twitter.com/FPHyBcz9pr

— SuperSport ???? (@SuperSportTV) September 28, 2019

City made a couple of changes at the start of the second half: both Lakay and Erasmus seemed to struggle with the heat and altitude and were replaced by Shaquille Abrahams and Shane Roberts.

However, it was Pirates who made the first major move after the restart, claiming a third goal and moving into the lead for the first time.

On 57 minutes Bucs worked a short corner before Dlamini played in an in-swinging cross from the right which allowed Alfred Ndengane to head home from close range and make it 3-2.

City fought hard for an equaliser and came close with 15 minutes of regulation time to play, as Abrahams got away a left-footed shot from the edge of the box, but Delle reacted well to push the ball away with a strong right hand.

The Citizens were finally rewarded on 85 minutes when poor defending at a corner kick from the hosts saw the ball fall kindly for Roberts, who fired a shot into the top corner to see the game conclude with a 3-3 scoreline.

City will be back in league action on Tuesday when they travel to AmaZulu, while Pirates (who had their midweek game against Highlands Park postponed due to the latter's participation in next weekend's MTN8 final) will only return to league football in almost a month's time when they travel to Stellenbosch.

Orlando Pirates (2) 3 (Jele/Fielies og 23’, Mabasa 45’, Ndengane 57’)

Cape Town City (2) 3 (Nodada 7’, Erasmus 9’, Roberts 85’)

Pirates: Delle, Monyane, Jele, Ndengane, Maela, Mlambo (Ndlovu 56’), Nyatama (Memela 88’), Makaringe, Lorch, Mabasa, Dlamini (Pule 70’)

City: Leeuwenburgh, Mkhize, Fielies, Edmilson, Kewuti, Mokeke, Nodada, Makola (Ralani 84’), Lakay (Abrahams 46’), Erasmus (Roberts 46’), Martin