Pirates down 10-man City to reach MTN8 semifinals
· Citizen
Orlando Pirates edged Durban City 2-1 in extra-time to reach the semifinals of the MTN8 at the Orlando Amstel Arena on Saturday.
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The game went into extra-time after the teams were locked at 1-1 after 90 minutes of football.
As expected, it was the hosts who dominated ball possession in the early stages of the match, City applying a low block and trying to catch Pirates on the counter
It was the visitors who had the first shot in anger towards goal, but Tylo Sanger’s shot went narrowly wide of goal in the sixth minute.
Pirates’ best chance of the half fell to Thalente Mbatha who found himself unmarked just outside the penalty box, but his audacious shot was saved by Frederick Asare.
Yanela Mbuthuma then wasted a glorious chance to put the Buccaneers in the lead when he was found by a perfectly weighted cross from Patrick Maswanganyi.
Jean Mwamba outran Nkosinathi Sibisi in the 29th minute after being sent through by Sanger in the 29th minute, but his shot went wide of the goal.
A mistake at the back from City led to the opening goal of the match. Brooklyn Poggenpoel was late to clear the ball and Tshepang Moremi tried to steal it and was kicked from behind by the City midfielder. Referee Jelly Chavani pointed to the spot and from that resultant spot kick, Maswanganyi sent Asare the wrong way to give Pirates the lead.
Pirates took their lead into the half-time break.
The Buccaneers dominated ball possession in the second half, but it was The Citizens who found their equaliser against the run of play. After being found by a defence-splitting pass inside the box from Bandile Shandu, Gaston Sirino quickly sent the ball in for Jean Lwamba to tap it in for the equaliser.
Maswanganyi tried his luck from range in the 72nd minute, but his shot was saved by Asare as Pirates continued to push for the lead.
Asare did well again to deny Moremi in the 87th minute to make sure that the game went into extra time.
With neither team finding the winning goal in the 90 minutes of football, the game went into extra-time. And Ghampani Lungu made sure that the game didn’t go into penalties as he scored the winner on the stroke of full-time of extra-time.