It’s easily becoming a Relebohile Mofokeng show.
The Orlando Pirates playmaker capped another magnificent performance in Orlando Stadium with a delightful chip to score his third league goal in three matches, helping his team to open a six-point gap on top of the Betway Premiership table.
Pirates won their third league match on the trot after comfortably beating Marumo Gallants 3-0 at Orlando Stadium on Saturday, avenging a shock defeat they suffered against the same Gallants earlier this season.
Yanela Mbuthuma scored his fourth league goal of the season in the 4th minute, easily tapping home after getting yet another assist from Pirates playmaker Mofokeng. Mofokeng’s exquisite first touch in receiving a pass from deep in the midfield created enough space for him to square for Mbuthuma.
Pirates doubled their lead a minute before the half-hour mark when Patrick Maswanganyi saw his long range shot deflected in, leaving Gallants goalkeeper Washington Arubi with little chance to stop it despite the fact that the ball was moving at a snail’s pace when it eventually trickled in.
It was Mofokeng who had the last laugh five minutes from time, leaving Arubi in no position to react as the Bafana Bafana star thumped in his third league goal in a match Pirates should have won with more than a dozen goals.
This was a timely win for Buccaneers ahead of their two blockbuster fixtures against defending champions Mamelodi Sundowns (at FNB Stadium on Wednesday) and Soweto archrivals Kaizer Chiefs (February 28). The points that Pirates can collect in those matches may ultimately determine whether they break their league drought, which has dragged on for a decade. In those ten years Pirates have had to witness Sundowns dominating, winning the championship for the past eight seasons.
But such has been the buzz around Pirates’ chase for the league title that this match was delayed by 15 minutes as Bucs fans were still flocking to the venue by kickoff time.
Wednesday’s match against second-placed Sundowns should be another sold-out affair, much the same as the much-awaited Soweto derby, tickets for which were snapped up within minutes when they went on sale on Thursday.
In this match, Pirates dominated possession and could have gone to halftime leading by an avalanche of goals if they were not as wasteful as they usually are in front of goals. This is one aspect coach Abdelsam Ouaddou has lamented about his team as he’s concerned about the number of chances they miss and how that can come back to haunt them if the league were to be decided on goal difference.
Mofokeng, Mbuthuma, Maswanganyi and Oswin Appollis all had good chances to add to Bucs tally before the break but poor finishing let them down.
In the second half Pirates continued to press for more goals but they still eluded them, resulting in Ouaddou pulling both scorers, Mbuthuma and Maswanganyi for Evidence Makgopa and Tshepang Moremi, just before the hour mark.
Makgopa and Moremi immediately joined the party of Pirates players who wasted big chances to score more goals in this match.
But Ouaddou will at least be happy when welcoming Sundowns on Wednesday knowing that another victory will further widen the gap between them with close to ten matches remaining.
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