Buccaneers sweep Royal AM aside

Orlando Pirates kept their hopes of qualifying for next season’s Caf Champions League alive with a convincing 4-0 victory over Royal AM in a DStv Premiership clash played at the Harry Gwala Stadium yesterday afternoon.

The win saw Pirates remain third in the DStv Premiership standings with 43 points after 25 matches. They trail second-placed Stellenbosch FC, who handed Polokwane City 5-0 on Saturday, by three points as the race for the second-place finish heats up.

The game started at a frantic pace with both teams throwing everything at each other, but it was the home team that almost grabbed an early lead in the fifth minute, but Sedwyn George’s shot went narrowly wide.

Patrick Maswanganyi also saw his shot go over the crossbar seven minutes later as Pirates came close to taking the lead.

Pirates were forced to make an early substitution after Thabiso Lebitso failed to recover from an injury and was replaced by Thabiso Monyane.

Maswanganyi was to make amends for his earlier miss in the 29th minute when he was fouled inside the penalty area and the referee pointed to the spot. The midfielder then dusted himself off and converted the spot kick to put the Buccaneers in the lead.

Talent Mbatha netted his first goal from Pirates in the 56th minute when he punished Royal AM, who had gone to sleep, following a routine throw in from the Buccaneers.

Coach John Maduka made a couple of changes after the hour mark as he tried to rescue the match.

But it was the Buccaneers who dominated and went on to score two more goals, as Relebohile Mofokeng and substitute Kabelo Dlamini scored for Jose Riveiro’s side in the 74th and 82nd minutes respectively.