SIX-YEAR TROPHY DROUGHT ENDS
It was jubilant scenes at the Moses Mabhida Stadium pitch in Durban as Orlando Pirates ended a six-year drought when they lifted the MTN8 trophy following a 2-1 win over a 10-man Bloemfontein Celtic in the final played on Saturday evening.
Before this triumph, the Buccaneers had not won a trophy since they beat Bidvest Wits in a Nedbank Cup final in 2014.
Goals by Deon Hotto and Thembinkosi Lorch brought glory to the
Buccaneers after Siphelele Luthuli had given Phunya Sele Sele the lead.
Luthuli scored for Siwelele in the fourth minute, but Hotto cancelled
the lead when he put his ball beyond Celtic goalkeeper Jackson Mabokgwane’s reach in the 32nd minute.
It was 1-1 at half time.
Pirates had a bright start in the second stanza asking many questions and their efforts were rewarded in the 53rd minute.
Celtic defender Ronald Pfumbidzai fouled Lorch inside the box and as a
result he was red carded by match referee Luxolo Badi. Lorch dusted himself and converted the spot kick to give the Buccaneers a 2-1 lead.
This is Bucs coach Josef Zinnbauer’s first trophy since he joined the
Soweto giants in December 2019.
‘‘I think it was a difficult game. It’s not easy when you concede in the second or fifth minute. We had a lot of chances to score. We could have completed the match in the first half. We had a little bit of luck in the last minute. It was a good game, we have the title,’ Zinnbauer said.
Meanwhile, Celtic coach John Maduka believes that his players did well
despite losing the game.
‘‘We carried the game well that’s why we managed to score the goal. We
are a team that want to play football, we build from the back. We did very much better when we had 10 men,’’ said.
