PIRATES ACCEPT LOSS
No violence as Mhango sends Wits top
SECURITY officials and police were on high alert, but there was no hooliganism from Orlando Pirates’ supporters despite a 2-1 defeat to Bidvest Wits here last night.
Police officers walked around the stadium like the buff guys you’d bump into at the gym, sending out a clear message that they were not going to take any nonsense from any supporter after the violent scenes that marred the Absa Premiership match at Loftus Stadium on Saturday, when the Buccaneers lost 6-0 to Mamelodi Sundowns.
As Pirates players walked to the centre of the pitch to do their traditional skull and bones greeting before kickoff, a small group of supporters behind goal posts on the right hand side of the stadium did not return the greeting.
This was the same group of supporters who were singing songs with vulgar words during the first half, to show their dissatisfaction at team’s poor form. Bucs have not won since November.
The home fans were silenced just before the half-hour mark when Wits opened the scoring through Gabadinho Mhango, as Pirates were robbed of their early dominance which saw Thembinkosi Lorch and Luvuyo Memela forcing saves out of visiting goalkeeper Darren Keet.
Mhango somehow got through Thabo Matlaba and Ayanda Gcaba before curling the ball into the net. It was horrible defending from Pirates.
Mhango took his tally for the season to seven goals when he headed home his second, which proved the winner to take Wits to the summit.
Things improved for Pirates in the second half, thanks to a goal from long serving defender Happy Jele just after the half hour mark. Jele, who was brought back into the starting line-up after he was benched for the Sundowns match, finished from close range from a Lorch corner kick.
It was at that very moment Pirates supporters started believing that a much-needed comeback was on the cards. They started clapping hands whenever the home team made a clearance or an interception and there were cheering their team on whenever they got into the opposition half.
However, any hopes of a come back were dashed when Bucs goalkeeper Jackson Mabokgwane was sent off for handling the ball outside his area. As they had run out of substitutes, Jele went in goal for the remaining 12 minutes. He pulled off a good save from a Mhango effort in stoppage time, as fans chanted his name at the end of the match.
SuperSport United extended their unbeaten run in the Absa Premiership to 14 games, but Free State Stars deserved more than a 0-0 draw at James Motlatsi Stadium in Orkney last night, reports Marc Strydom.
Stars went into the game in secondlast place having come back from the PSL's six-week break with a 3-1 defeat away against Kaizer Chiefs.
But Serame Letsoaka’s second match in charge would have given Ea Lla Koto far more hope of avoiding relegation in 2016-17, even if they have much work left to do.
At the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane, Baroka held Platinum Stars to a 0-0 draw.