Pirates made to sweat by Venda

O. Pirates ............... 2

Venda FA ............... 1 OHANNESBURG – Orlando Pirates were made to work incredibly hard for a place in the quarter-finals of the Nedbank Cup, as they needed extra time to overcome second-tier Venda Football Academy 2-1 at the Orlando Stadium last night.

Locked at 1-1 after the regulation 90 minutes – thanks to goals from Kermit Erasmus and Edmore Chirambadare – the Buccaneers ultimately triumphed on the back of a strike from Thembinkosi Lorch, seven minutes before the end of extra time to progress into the final eight.

Pirates created the first clear chance in the 11th minute when a great chip over the defence from Kermit Erasmus put the hard-running Deon Hotto in on goal, but the Namibian struck his effort wildly off target from just a few metres out.

Yet the Buccaneers kept on plugging away and were rewarded with a goal midway through the first half, as Hotto whipped in a cross from the left to pick out Erasmus, who scored with a neat downward header past the right hand of Venda goalkeeper Harold Ndlovu. At the start of the second half, Bucs swapped out Erasmus in favour of Terrence Dzvukamanja, and the Zimbabwean immediately drew a finger-tip save from Ndlovu with a dipping long-range strike.

Yet a shocking piece of defensive play from Pirates’ makeshift left-back Hotto, who tried to run the ball across his penalty area, then gifted an equaliser to Venda, with Chirambadare easily side-footing home to make it 1-1 in the 49th minute. A similar pattern followed in the next phase of the game and a penalty shootout seemed the inevitable outcome. However, on 113 minutes a long ball was flicked on by Pirates substitute Evidence Makgopa for Lorch to seal a 2-1 triumph and allowing the Bucs supporters to breathe a mighty sigh of relief.

J