Etoile leave Pirates seeing red . . . but all is not lost

THERE are goals so obtrusive to the mind that they will be remembered long after the footballers’ seasonal work has come to a close.

Thamsanqa Gabuza’s leftfoot rifle against Etoile du Sahel was meant to be one of those, until Ammar Jemal capitalised on a sleeping Orlando Pirates defence at the death.

Jerry Sikhosana, Phil Masinga and Mark Williams are owners of such goals, but Gabuza’s moment was ripped from him by a defence that failed to do its job at the portentous moment.

Scored by a man possessed, with a devilish demon inside of him, the goal took on the personality of a historymaking, life-defining object like the first pickaxe to strike the Berlin Wall or the silver Toyota Cressida that delivered Nelson Mandela from Victor Verster Prison towards a bright South African future.

The man from Newcastle in KwaZulu-Natal was supercilious, angry, elated and bullish — all emotions woven in one — after scoring and who could blame him?

He’s been handed all manner of unflattering epithets for his lack of striking aesthetics and the proclivity to find the back of the net infrequently. This was his sixth and most important goal of the Caf Confederation Cup.

And after last night Manqoba Mngqithi, the coach who gave Gabuza his debut at Lamontville Golden Arrows, might regret saying he’s better off at centre back.

The 28-year-old took his words, put them on an icy platter and force-fed them to Mngqithi in a vengeful manner that would have left Hannibal Lecter cringing.

Prior to Jamal’s goal, the Buccaneers had done all the hard work. Thabo Rakhale wore Jomo Sono’s nickname tight around his collar and Senzo Meyiwa was resurrected through Felipe Ovono in goal.

The Ghost did its half and Orlando Stadium was packed to the rafters — a gallery of 30 000-plus all sitting in the front row of history.

Etoile du Sahel only came here for one lovely away goal — one they could put in a cot and cradle all the way back to Sousse. A handful of times they might have gotten their prized asset earlier in the game but they didn’t mind silencing the crowd late on.

Pirates were left seeing red, wounded by the first blood drawn by the Tunisian matadors.