Orlando Pirates suffered a shock 3-2 defeat to Magesi in the opening round of the Carling Knockout Cup at Orlando Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Pirates came into the tie as overwhelming favourites with the tags of the Cup Kings after securing five domestic cups since the arrival of Jose Riveiro.
Prior to the FIFA international break that passed, they beat Stellenbosch 3-1 in the MTN8 final in Durban, further emphasising their pedigree in domestic cup competitions.
However, the top-flight domestic cup debutants, led by head coach Clinton Larsen, flipped the script in unbelievable fashion, when it looked like Pirates would coast to victory.
The visitors hardly had a sniff of the ball for the opening 25 minutes and went on to take the lead through Delano Abrahams with a header from close range after 32 minutes.
And five minutes later they were in dream land when Thabiso Sesane diverted an effort past his own goalkeeper Sipho Chaine for an own-goal, doubling the lead.
With Pirates looking to regroup, after being shell-shocked, the went on to concede a penalty on the brink of half-time and despite Chaine saving Edmore Chirambadare’s effort, he headed home the rebound for a 3-0 lead going into half-time.
Rivieiro responded with several changes, Monnapule Saleng came off at the break for Mohau Nkota while Evidence Makgopa and Patrick Maswanganyi replaced Selaelo Rasebotja and Karim Kimvuidi.
But for all their endeavours and probing, with an assault on Elvis Chipezeze’s goal, and they came close to scoring when Tshegofatso Mabasa smashed the crossbar from close range.
Kabelo Dlamini eventually found the net with five minutes to go which created a wave of energy inside eSgodini and it turned fever pitch when Makgopa made it 3-2 with two minutes remaining in regulation time.
But it was too little too late, as the Limpopo-based outfit held on for a famous victory in Soweto.
Larsen and his troops join Stellenbosch in the quarter-finals of the competition after the champions beat AmaZulu 2-1 after extra time at the King Zwelithini Stadium on Friday.
