Pirates blitz City in Soweto
ORLANDO Pirates silenced their critics yesterday with a two-goal opening blitz that stunned Cape Town City at Orlando Stadium.
The Buccaneers have been under pressure recently from their own supporters due to their indifferent Premiership form, which has ranged from a derby win over Kaizer Chiefs followed by a defeat to Golden Arrows.
But despite the lack of a fit striker in their squad, Pirates raced out of the starting blocks through a first-minute goal by the ever reliable Deon Hotto yesterday. The Namibian international midfielder ran onto a through ball that caught the high-lying City defence flat footed and calmly slotted the ball past goalkeeper Peter Leeuwenburgh.
Before City could even recover from the shock of conceding an early goal, the visitors were again picking up the ball from their own net.
City coach Jan Olde Riekerink would have been tearing his hair out at the way his team's defence was unravelling with Vincent Pule tapping home from close range for Pirates' second goal just four minutes after the opener.
Bouyed by the two-goal advantage, Pirates settled comfortably into their rhythm.
Olde Riekerink's halftime talk must have been of the "hairdryer" type for City came out with renewed vigour after the interval.
But the usually free-scoring visitors were enduring a rare off day in front of goal, exemplified by captain Thabo Nodada's glaring second-half miss.
Nodada, who just this week signed a new long-term contract with City, had a gaping goal to aim at, but ballooned his shot over the bar.
Pirates coach Josef Zinnbauer may be pleased with the eventual outcome, but he will still not be satisfied with his team's inability to kill off the opposition.
With City pushing forward as they attempted to get back into the game, there were gaping holes for Pirates to exploit but they failed to add to their early advantage with Lorch being among the primary culprits.