Bucs get act together after late equaliser
Tshepo Ntsoelengoe
There was some sort of relief for Orlando Pirates coach Kjell Jonevret after his team found it tough to make the semifinals of the Nedbank Cup against Bloemfontein Celtic at the Orlando Stadium last Saturday.
Having opened the scoring through Abboubaker Mobara in the early stages of the second half. The Buccaneers looked certain to be sailing to the last four of the Ke Yona Cup. However, it wasn’t to be the case for Bucs as Celtic youngster Kabelo Mahlasela took the game to extra time after his welltaken goal four minutes from the end levelled the scores.
The teams went in hard on each other looking for the winning goal and Celtic midfielder Lyle Lakay was guilty of wasting numerous opportunities.
At the other the end, having had little possession of the ball in the early stages of the game, Thamsanqa Gabuza redeemed himself when his header gave Bucs a 2-1 win in the 103rd minute from a perfect cross by Thabo Rakhale, who came back from injury to start the tie.
With Bucs having went through to the quarterfinals, coach Jonevret believes they could have done more better and said there was still a lot of work to be done.
“We are happy and relieved at the same time – it was very close. I think we were okay in the first half, even though we didn’t create many chances,” said the Bucs coach.
“We dropped off after we scored and we were a little nervous. But we came back again after they scored. Overall we are happy, I just hope we can be a little bit better because I don’t think we would manage to continue like this.”
“We have to be a little more straight on, we didn’t have much shots in the first half. But that’s fun, we have something to work on right now, but we are happy to be in the semifinals,” he added.
Pirates will find out who they will face in the last four of the competition between Chippa United, Golden Arrows and defending Champions SuperSport United following tonight’s draw.