Pirates’ hopes of catching Sundowns dented with defeat to CT City

Orlando Pirates' hopes of catching Mamelodi Sundowns at the top of the DStv Premiership log are fading fast after they lost their second match on the trot with a 2-1 defeat to Cape Town City at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday where the Buccaneers could not hold on to an early lead.

The defeat, courtesy of City’s Darwin Gonzalez’s 74th-minute strike, leaves the Buccaneers on 19 points after completing the 15 matches of the first round.

Pirates are now 18 points adrift of the Brazilians, who won their ninth league game on the spin with their 2-0 victory over Richards Bay in Umlazi, Durban on Friday.

City’s win moved them to the sixth spot on the table as they now share 19 points with Pirates and Lamontville Golden Arrows who beat SuperSport United 2-1 earlier on Saturday

Deon Hotto opened the scoring for Jose Riveiro’s side in the 20th minute but poor defending by the Pirates defence allowed City’s new Colombian striker Londono Zapata to head in the equaliser off Lyle Lakay’s delightful cross in the 31st minute.

Gonzalez then scored his fourth league goal of the season latching on to Mark van Heerden’s cross. 

Pirates are having a poor run in the league having collected just five points in their last seven matches.

Bucs came to Saturday’s  match having lost 2-0 to Sundowns in what was their last match of the year last Friday.

Riveiro’s side have had a poor scoring form in the 2022-2023 campaign, only scoring 10 goals in their league matches.

City started the season poorly but with this victory they might well rediscover the form that saw them finish second behind Sundowns last season.

Zapata looks to be a good signing for Eric Tinkler’s side who themselves have only scored 10 goals in their first 15 league matches in which they have conceded 11.