General News ; Mahamutsa the hero for Pirates 19 Sep 2013 A solitary goal from Rooi Mahamutsa handed Orlando Pirates their first three points of the Absa Premiership season as they beat a stubborn Polokwane City 1-0 at Orlando Stadium on Wednesday night. The opening 45 minutes saw the home side dominating the possession stakes and dictating the play, but for all their dominance they struggled to break down a resilient and stubborn Polokwane defence. It seemed like it was going to be a long night for the away side as a goal mouth scramble in the opening minute of the game saw Oupa Manyisa blast a shot over the crossbar from ten-yards out. The game took a familiar shape after that as Pirates played possession football and passed the ball around the park with ease, but still they couldn’t seem to break down the Polokwane defence who camped just in front of the box. Consequently, the Buccaneers had to shoot from long range, but with very little effect. In the 16th minute a frustrated Kermit Erasmus let loose with a 25-yard shot after period of sustained passing on the edge of the box, but the Pirates man saw his effort sail over the target. Nine minutes later and Tlou Segolela tried an outrageous shot from 35-yards out, which caught the keeper unawares, but luckily for Polokwane it sailed narrowly over the crossbar. In the 27th minute Erasmus met a right wing cross with a header, but he saw his effort go wide from 12-yards out. Two minutes later and Erasmus was in the thick of the action again, driving down the left wing and making his way into the box before squaring the ball across the face of goal which resulted a in a goal mouth scramble and Aubrey Ngoma firing a shot straight at the keeper from two-yards out. In the 33rd minute Andile Jali almost opened the scoring in the luckiest of manners as he saw his 30-yard shot deflected, wrong footing the keeper, but the ball went centimetres wide of the right-hand post. The last significant action of the opening stanza fell to Polokwane in the dying seconds of the half as Thobani Mncwango broke into the Buccaneers box on the counter-attack, but he saw his powerful 16-yard strike well saved by Senzo Meyiwa. The second half continued in the same vein as Pirates created chance after chance. In the 56th minute Happy Jele thought he had found the opening goal when he latched onto a goal mouth scramble at a corner-kick, but he saw his header cleared off the goalline by a Polokwane defender. Seven minutes later, though, and Pirates did finally make their pressure tell as Rooi Mahamutsa found Pirates’ first goal of the league season. The Buccaneers defender let fly with a powerful shot form the edge of the box that made its way into the bottom left hand corner of the net, 1-0. The Buccaneers could not find a second goal, but managed to hold on for their first three points while Polokwane slumped to their fifth consecutive loss of the league season. Orlando Pirates (0) 1 (Mahamutsa 63’) Polokwane City (0) 0 Teams Pirates: Meyiwa; Jele, Sangweni, Mahamutsa, Phungwayo, Segolela (Thwala 85’), Manyisa, Jali, Ngoma (Mbuyane 64’), Gabuza, Erasmus (Myeni 76’) Polokwane: Marumo; Molekwane, Tshilo, Mkhabela, Lichada, Nzimande, Molala, Mdluli (Senamela 60’), Gopane, Kanyenda, Mncwango (Tlolane 79’)
Posted on: Thu, 19 Sep 2013 05:12:15 +0000
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