Plucky Pirates prove they're still very much in the race

At FNB Stadium

Orlando Pirates demonstrated that they haven’t yet thrown in the towel in the PSL title race, beating log leaders Mamelodi Sundowns 2-1 here on Sunday afternoon, courtesy of Relebohile Mofokeng’s lightning-fast brace.

The win means second-placed Pirates are now 15 points behind Downs with four games in hand. Winning the games in hand would see Pirates cut the gap to just three points.

There was some pre-match drama, with arguably the biggest being the stadium announcer instructing spectators sitting in the far stand – which is usually for the away side – to split from the centre-line. The announcer threatened the match would be delayed if his call wasn’t heeded, but that didn’t stop fans from disobeying him. Nonetheless, the match started at the scheduled time.

Another incident that elicited comment was that Sundowns had to use the secondary entrance to get on to the field for their warm-up exercise. This was because they had to use a changeroom far from the regular ones as Kaizer Chiefs, who traditionally use the stadium as their home, allegedly locked the home side’s locker room, forcing Pirates to use the away side’s facilities, even though it was their home fixture.

The Brazilians were not allowed to cross Bucs’ dugout, and had to go behind it to reach their bench.

Pirates deployed a rather defensive starting 11 comprised of three centre backs – Nkosinathi Sibisi, Tapelo Xoki and newbie Mbekezeli Mbokazi – with Evidence Makgopa getting a rare nod to spearhead their attack ahead of Tshegofatso Mabasa, who started on the bench.

Sundowns had no major surprises in their starting line-up.

Despite their rather defensive approach, Pirates started the game with high intensity, resulting in two goals within the first five minutes, both courtesy of  Mofokeng.

For the first goal, he neatly pounced on a Makgopa cutback in the fourth minute. Makgopa skinned Sundowns defender Lucas Suarez alive down the right flank before finding Mofokeng, who placed his effort using the inside of his boot to beat Ronwen Williams.

The 20-year-old completed his brace a few seconds later after collecting a loose ball from Suarez’s failed clearance, using the same technique to beat Williams once again.

Pirates then allowed Sundowns to have possession and waited to catch them on transition. The Brazilians’ only real chance in the first half fell to Grant Kekana, who saw his header from a corner-kick hit the woodwork.

The visitors’ dominance eventually paid off when Khuliso Mudau pulled one back in the 66th minute after converting Iqraam Rayners’ long ball into the box.

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