Three-star Pirates sail past Horoya
Orlando Pirates maintained their unbeaten record at home when they eased past a hapless Horoya with a comfortable 3-0 victory at a rainy Orlando Stadium in Johannesburg on Friday evening.
A late first half goal by Thembinkosi Lorch as well as a brace from Justin Shonga was enough for the South Africans to seal victory and join Esperance at the top of group B with four points each from two matches.
This was Horoya’s first loss in South Africa after drawing with Mamelodi Sundowns and Supersport United in recent past.
The hosts wasted no time in getting into their opponents half when the in-form Kudakwashe Mahachi floated a delightful ball into the box that was met by the header of Musa Nyatama as it went inches wide.
Mahachi was back in the picture again in the 13th minute when his curling strike was deflected away for a corner by Horoya’s Hudu Yakubu.
The West Africans tried getting into the game with a few build ups but lacked creativity in the final third as the homers easily thwarted their efforts.
Pirates were very close to getting the opener just before the hour mark when Lorch received a lay off Justin Shonga to unleash a thunderous shot that came off the top corner of the woodwork.
The Bucs talisman did however redeem himself seconds before the interval after collecting a pass from Xola Mlambo to beat two defenders and fire his shot into the roof of the net to give Pirates the lead into the break.
Coming into the second half, Mahachi came very close to finding the second when an inch perfect cross from Asavela Mbekile was tipped away to safety by Abdoulaye Kante.
Alfred Ndengane should have scored on the hour mark after a comedy of errors form the visitors saw a corner going past a number of defenders to land in front of the unexpectant Ndengane who shot straight at the keeper.
Kante showed some courageous goalkeeping in the 63rd minute when a well-played cross into the box just needed to be tapped in by Shonga but was denied by the keeper’s stretched out hand.
Horoya did get a sniff at goal in the 65th minute however it was quite an ambitious strike from far out by Alseny Camara which didn’t trouble the keeper.
The cushion goal eventually came in the 73rd minute after a quick transition from Pirates caught Kante off guard who was spotted by Shonga to be way off his line as the Zambian gave his side the second.
Two minutes later, the final nail was hammered into the visitors’ coffin when Mlambo unleashed one of his trademark passes to Pule which was deflected into the path of Shonga who fired home from close range to seal the victory.
Pirates now shift focus to welcoming to Tunisia’s Esperance while Horoya will be hoping to get their campaign back on track when they travel to Zimbabwe to face another wounded side in FC Platinum next month.