Pirates again endure nervy second half seeing off Baroka

Vincent Pule turned on the magic as he helped an anxious Orlando Pirates beat Baroka FC 2-1 in an Absa Premiership match at Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane on Saturday.

The win saw Pirates move to top spot with 14 points from eight matches. On-form Pule joined the other league’s top scorers‚ Khama Billiat of Kaizer Chiefs‚ Tshegofatso Mabaso of Bloemfontein Celtic and Evans Rusike of SuperSport United‚ with his third goal of the season.

Man-of-the-match Pule opened the scoring with a stunning 25-yard shot in the 32nd minute after receiving a pass from Thembinkosi Lorch with acres of space to pick his spot.

The former Bidvest Wits left winger turned provider for Bucs’ second five minutes later‚ this time his impressive diagonal pass from the middle of the park finished by fellow winger Lorch‚ who dummied Baroka keeper Elvis Chipezeze before easily tapping in for his second league goal of the season.

In the second half Pirates tried not to repeat what they had done on Wednesday night where they gave away a similar 2-0 lead and allowed Cape Town City’s Ayanda Patosi to score a brace to share the spoils 2-2 at Orlando Stadium.

Not as dominant as they were in the first half‚ Pirates endured a nervy finish to this match as they failed to clear a Baroka corner‚ which resulted in Botswana international Onkabetse Makgantai reducing the score 12 minutes from time.

Bucs coach Milutin Sredojevic would be worried going into a 10-day break about his team’s struggle to kill off the games in the second half.

Sredojevic will hope by the time Golden Arrows visit Pirates on October 3 he would have found a formula to contain teams and not concede goals in the second half.

For Baroka coach Wedson Nyirenda the battle to fend off defeats continues on Wednesday when they host Free State Stars.

Nyirenda will take solace from the fact that Baroka were not notably outplayed by Bucs as Bakgaga were unlucky not to get a point at least with all the chances they created in the second half they dominated.