Wasteful Pirates pay the price
Buccaneers find a way to snatch defeat from jaws of victory
● Holders SuperSport United bundled Orlando Pirates out of the MTN8 quarterfinal yesterday but it took penalties to separate them on a cold night at Orlando Stadium.
The Buccaneers had the majority of the play and two glorious chances to wrap up the tie but squandered them and paid the price.
James Keene delivered the killer blow to win the shootout after Pirates’ Innocent Maela had his kick saved and Thembinkosi Lorch missed in the shootout.
SuperSport started in unusual formation, pushing four forwards right on top of the Pirates defence and making things uncomfortable for their hosts but the ploy did not last long and within eight minutes the Buccaneers had their first chance after SuperSport’s new Zambian signing Ghampani Lungu lost possession but Innocent Maela finished poorly after being set up by Vincent Pule.
Seven minutes later Pirates had the ball in the net after a series of passes saw the Zambian attacking duo of Augustine Mulenga and Justin Shonga combine and Mulenga toe poke the ball to the left of SuperSport goalkeeper Ronwen Williams for the opener.
Pirates had control but allowed their visitors to come back into the game after a fine individual effort from Dean Furman ensured parity in the 33rd minute.
He was involved in the build-up from deep in his own half, surging forward to both spray and then collect passes with Evans Rusike finally cueing up Furman to run onto the ball and curl a left-footed shot past Siyabonga Mpontshane.
It was only Furman’s fourth goal in SuperSport colours but one that showed his application and desire.
But within five minutes Furman was guilty of being caught with the ball on the edge of his own area, then dispossessed and allowing Shonga to burst through on goal. It needed a superb tackle from Clayton Daniels to ensure the two sides stayed level.
Rusike ruthlessly buried a chance to give SuperSport the lead in the second half.
But with an hour gone it was level again. SuperSport made heavy work of clearing a corner. The ball fell for Xola Mlambo, whose shot took a deflection off teammate Gladwin Shitolo and went into the net.
Pule had the goal at his mercy five minutes from the end of regulation time but conjured up a horror miss.
With seven minutes left of extra time, Morgan Gould tugged back Gabuza to concede a penalty. But Mulenga had his spot kick expertly saved by Williams.
The shootout again saw Williams make a key save to uphold his reputation as the best in the business in the spot-kick lottery.