Vincent Pule turned on the magic as he helped an anxious Orlando Pirates beat Baroka FC 2-1 in an Absa Premiership match played at Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane yesterday.
The win saw Pirates move to top spot with 14 points from eight matches, while on-form Pule joined the league's other top scorers with his third goal of the season. Man-of-the-match Pule opened the scoring with a stunning 22m 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 in Bucs' second goal five minutes later, this time with his impressive diagonal pass from the middle of the park being finished by fellow winger Lorch, who dummied Baroka keeper Elvis Chipezeze before easily tapping in for his second league goal of the season.
NERVY FINISH
In the second half Pirates tried not to repeat what they did on Wednesday night when 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 Onkabetse Makgantai reducing the score with 12 minutes to go.
Bucs coach Milutin Sredojevic will be worried going to a 10-day break about his team's struggle into kill off the games in the second half. Sredojevic will hope by the time Golden Arrows visit them on October 3 he would have found a cure to avoid leaking goals in the second half.
For Baroka coach Wedson Nyirenda the struggle to fend off defeats continues on Wednesday when they host Free State Stars.
Nyirenda will take solace from the fact that they were not completely outplayed by Bucs and were unlucky not to get an equaliser in a second half they dominated.
Baroka FC(0) 1
Orlando Pirates(2) 2
GOALS: Orlando Pirates, Vincent Pule (32m); Thembinkosi Lorch (37m); Baroka, Onkabetse Makgantai (78m)..