Zakhele Lepasa’s brace and a solid performance by Orlando Pirates helped the Soweto giants defeat TS Galaxy 2-0 in their DStv Premiership clash at Orlando Stadium in Johannesburg on Saturday night.

Lepasa opened the scoring in the sixth minute and doubled his money with a stunner of a goal after 37 minutes as he showed no mercy against the side that helped to launch his career in the professional ranks.

The Pirates development product was given his chance to cut his teeth by Galaxy during his loan spell when the Mpumalanga outfit still campaigned in the National First Division (NFD).

The 25-year-old forward rose to stardom when he helped Galaxy stun Kaizer Chiefs in the Nedbank Cup final in 2019 through his solitary goal.

Before the match Pirates had lost 1-0 to Maritzburg United thanks to a controversial penalty that was awarded to the KwaZulu-Natal side.

But Pirates’ performance against Galaxy had a lot of improvements from all the matches they have played this season.

Meanwhile, the visitors have failed to register a victory in four successive games and have managed just two points out of a possible 12.  

This season Pirates have made it a trend to score goals in the early stages of the match when the opponents are still trying to find their feet.

This says a lot about the planning of other teams such as Galaxy because it should have been top of their agenda that Pirates try to find an early goal, so they should be prepared to stop this from happening.

But it looked like Galaxy failed to come up with a plan for this or they were simply not aware of this fact.

Pirates deserves credit for the build-up to the goal which came from their right side following the excellent combination play between Bandile Shandu, Kabelo Dlamini and Lepasa, who took the shot which deflected off Galaxy defender Given Msimango on its way to the back of the net.

Pirates continued to play attractive football and create opportunities.

Lepasa doubled his tally on the day and Pirates’ lead when he caught Galaxy’s keeper Melusi Buthelezi off guard with a well taken chip eight minutes before the halftime break.

Galaxy coach Sead Ramovic made two changes before the start of the second stanza bringing in Xola Mlambo for Bathusi Aubass and Keletso Makgalwa for Aphelele Teto.

Those changes proved to be effective for the visitors as they pressed the Buccaneers and forced them to play in their own half in the first 15 minutes of the second stanza.   

However, Pirates managed to deal with the pressure and managed the game until the final whistle.

Pirates will now have a few weeks break before they play their next game which will be the first leg of the MTN8 semifinal against Mamelodi Sundowns on Saturday, October 1.

Galaxy will be away to Premiership rookies Richards Bay FC in a league match on Sunday, September 18.