Orlando Pirates moved within four points off league leaders Mamelodi Sundowns – with two games in hand – after their 2-0 win over Durban City at the Orlando Amstel Arena on Thursday evening.
After back to back weekends of the first preliminary round qualifiers of the CAF Champions League it was a catch-up fixture for Pirates against City, their third meeting this campaign.
In what’s been a tricky opponent for the Soweto giants, it appeared to be heading to a frustrating evening, when they went into the break at 0-0, with the visitors having the better chances to open the scoring.
But Simphiwe Selepe, Tshepang Moremi and Kabelo Kgositsile upped the tempo in attack with Yanela Mbuthuma, fresh from his Bafana Bafana call-up, leading the line.
First Lebone Seema broke the deadlock with a towering header from a corner, after waves of pressure in attack from Abdeslam Ouaddou’s side.
Then, less than 10 minutes later, Moremi bagged the second, with his weaker right foot, running in onto a pass from Masilela and slotting it beyond Frederick Asare, who was faultless before the opening goals.
City were left shell-shocked as Pirates went on to strange the game out and dominate possession and made it five wins and one draw from six games – with 16 points, they are four points off Sundowns who have played eight games.