Mhango’s goal enough for Pirates

Gabadinho Mhango jumped to the top of the Absa Premiership leading goal scorer standings after he handed Orlando Pirates a 1-0 win over Mamelodi Sundowns at the Orlando Stadium last night.

The Malawian international striker now has 11 league goals, one more than second placed AmaZulu striker Bongi Ntuli. But he might not thought much about that as the win against Downs was vital to keep the team on a good form.

With a sold out crowd, the action from both teams was what the fans must have expected with some end to end stuff from both ends.

But Sundowns should have got into the score-sheet in the first 15 minutes after Anele Ngcongca’s header hit the upright.

The Pretoria side once again came close to scoring a few minutes later following some beautiful play from Thapelo Morena who hit a power shot from just outside the box, but Bucs goalkeeper Wayne Sandilands was able to make a save – before Gaston Sirino followed with a shot, but skipper Happy Jele was there to block away the danger.

The home side had numerous chances and they were finally rewarded with a beautifully taken goal by Mhango in the half hour mark.

The goal seemed to have injected some confidence in the Pirates team as they had another opportunity through Thembinkosi Lorch, but his shot went wide in the 38th minute.

As the game headed towards half-time, Sibusiso Vilakazi had a chance with a header, but it wasn’t powerful enough to trouble Sandilands.

Downs were eager for an equaliser as more of their players made numbers upfront.

Vilakazi got another opportunity in the 53rd minute, but his header was cleared away.

Right after that incident, Bucs went out on the attack which saw Lorch with an opportunity to double the lead, but the winger couldn’t connect with his volley.

However, it was Gaston Sirino’s powerful shot that almost stole the show in the 77th minute, but the ball ended up hitting the right pole, then the left, before it was cleared out of danger.

The result sees the Buccaneers take their point tally to 27 after 17 games and jump to fifth place in the log, while Downs remain on second place with 32 points from the same number of games.