The Buccaneers reach their second cup final of the season.
Orlando Pirates sealed their place in the Carling Black Label Knockout final on Saturday with a 1-0 win over Richards Bay at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban.
Moremi magic for Pirates
Tshepang Moremi’s first half strike was enough to win it for the Buccaneers. Abdeslam Ouaddou’s side are looking to add the Carling Knockout trophy to the MTN8 title they have already won this season.
This is Pirates’ eighth cup final since the start of the 2022/23 season, and they have won the other seven.
Pirates will play either Golden Arrows or Marumo Gallants, who meet in the other semifinal on Sunday at the King Zwelithini Stadium in Umlazi.
Pirates dominated this game from the off, the only real question being when, not if they would find a way through Richards Bay’s low block.
Sipho Mbule’s delightful flicked pass over the home defence set up Yanele Mbuthuma, but Ian Otieno made a good close range save.
Oswin Appollis was having a typically all-action afternoon. His cross to the back post found Nkosinathi Sibisi, but his attempt to put the ball back into the danger area was blocked.
Appollis then tested Otieno with a long-range effort. And it was the Bafana attacker who was heavily involved as Pirates took the lead three minutes before the break.
Appollis’ fine raking pass found Moremi, and he controlled the ball superbly with his head before drilling a low shot across Otieno and into the corner of the net. It was the former AmaZulu man’s eighth goal in all competitions this season.
Chaine save
Richards Bay had to push forward more in the second half, and they created a couple of openings. The best came just after the hour mark, as Pirates goalkeeper Sipho Chaine hurtled off his line to cut off Knox Mutizwa, but the referee deemed it a fair challenge.
For Pirates, Moremi still seemed the most likely to add to the scoreline. However, he failed to capitalise as well on openings inside the Richards Bay area as he had with his goal.
In the end, however, Pirates didn’t need any more.