Orlando Pirates secured a 2-0 win over Cape Town City courtesy of a stunning Zakhele Leapsa strike in their DStv Premiership clash at Orlando Stadium on Tuesday evening.
Pirates were brimming with confidence after their back-to-back wins over Djbal in the CAF Champions League with Lepasa netting three of the four goals over the two legs.
Meanwhile, City started the season with two wins from two, then suffered back-to-back losses to SuperSport United and Sekhukhune United respectively.
And it was no surprise to see the Bafana Bafana forward open the scoring, turning his marker inside out before firing an effort into the top right corner of Darren Keet’s net.
It sparked an end-to-end affair but the home side showed that extra bit of composure on the ball to carve open the City defence for five efforts on goal to City’s two at the break.
Just before the hour mark Lepasa nearly doubled his tally but his sliding effort was tame and easily saved by Keet, which saw Jose Riveiro make two changes to freshen things up.
Relebohile Mofokeng and Monnapule Saleng were hauled off for Kabelo Dlamini and Deon Hotto. But it was City’s change Khanyisa Mayo who nearly made an impact when he deflected effort neatly sneaked in under Sipho Chaine’s crossbar.
However, Pirates weathered the slight storm and period of possession dominance and had some dangerous breaks on transitions against the altered back-three defence of Eric Tinkler’s side – who tweaked their formation to chase an equaliser.
Patrick Maswanganyi was a beneficiary of that as he netted his second goal in as many games to secure the victory with 15 minutes to go.
On top of the three points the return of Miguel Timm was a welcomed boost for head coach Jose Riveiro ahead of their first-leg MTN8 semi-final against Stellenbosch this weekend.
The win moved Pirates up to fourth place, eight points behind league leaders Mamelodi Sundowns who have played one game more than the Buccaneers.
