Pirates Move Up To Third After SSU Draw

Orlando Pirates moved into third place in the DStv Premiership despite their 0-0 draw against SuperSport United at the Lucas Masterpieces Moripe Stadium on Sunday evening.

Pirates were looking to bounce back from last weekend’s surprise home defeat at the hands of Chippa United and like the fixture at Orlando Stadium, they dominated possession with little to show for it as they failed to convert it into goals.

Bienvenu Eva Nga led the line once again and was guilty of spurning a couple with Pirates having nine shots at goal and only two on target with their 69% possession of the ball in the opening half.

The second half proved more of the same with Pirates well on top of SuperSport, who hardly carved open a decent chance and looked settled to simply play on the counter – which hardly resulted in anything meaningful.

Kabelo Dlamini and Deon Hotto were the next to spurn great chances to open the scoring for the Buccaneers and twenty minutes in, head coach Jose Riveiro made the call to haul off the former and Eva Nga for Zakhele Lepasa and Thembinkosi Lorch.

But the chances saw Matsatsansa look for a late push and they nearly broke the deadlock with a substitute of their own when Thamsanqa Gabuza was presented with a goalmouth opportunity with Richard Ofori out of his goal but fluffed the effort. Iqraam Rayners also came close in the late stages, but again, showed little composure and ballooned his effort high and wide.

The draw saw Pirates move up to third with eight points from five points, while Gavin Hunt’s side remain winless with two draws and two defeats in their opening four games.