Orlando Pirates most successful captain in the PSL era Lucky Lekgwathi has given AmaZulu no chance in upstaging his former club at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday.
Lekgwathi says the venue has been a good hunting ground for Pirates as they have lifted every trophy on offer domestically there.
Pirates lifted the MTN8 at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in the 2010/11 season when they beat Swallows in a penalty shootout.
In the following season, Pirates defeated Bidvest Wits in the Telkom Knockout final before completing another treble as they won the league trophy when they beat Golden Arrows in the last game of that season.
Pirates also won the Nedbank Cup in 2013/14, beating Gavin Hunt’s Wits side, the game Kermit Erasmus scored twice on the day, as he is now back at Pirates.
That was Lekgwathi’s last game for Pirates to lift what turned out to be his last trophy.
As injuries continued to hamper him, he missed the match when Pirates lost the Wafa Wafa trophy in the 2014/15 season, going down to Kaizer Chiefs in the final in Durban.
While Lekgwathi retired in 2016, Pirates came back to Durban in the 2020/21 season to win this cup, beating Bloemfontein Celtic in the final.
“Moses Mabhida Stadium is our second home because Pirates has won many trophies at the venue,” said Lekgwathi, who is now the sponsor’s ambassador.
“Coming here is a blessing. Yes, AmaZulu are from Durban, (their home venue also is Moses Mabhida Stadium), but we got our 12th player which is our supporters. Supporters, whenever they are there, Pirates perform. Why did Chiefs and Pirates not perform well during the Covid?
“It is because there were no fans at the stadiums. I’m still saying to you that this is our second home. I know they will come out in numbers and we wouldn’t want to disappoint them.”
Already the tickets for this game were sold out after two days they went on sale.
In the 2010/11 MTN8 final, Lekgwathi was called to convert the last penalty to beat Swallows to win 4-2.
Daine Klate, Katlego Mashego, Isaac Chansa had all scored, leaving Lekgwathi to score the last after Siyabonga Nomvethe and Brain Mashishi had missed the two penalties for the Dube Birds.
The 46-year-old Lekgwathi has recalled the nerve-wracking experience to step up and beating Aubrey Mathibe then.
“The players said ‘you are kicking for a R8 million’. Moeneb Josephs said ‘I’m going to save one and if I do save one, please gents, don’t disappoint me and make sure you convert’ and that is what we did.”
Interestingly, Lekgwathi wore number 14 at Pirates, spent 14 years with the club, won 14 trophies, earned 14 caps for Bafana and his last game for Pirates was in 2014 at the Moses Mabhida Stadium.
