ANDREW MUCHINERIPI, Johannesburg | Saturday 7.00pm.
WHAT a bad weekend it is proving to be for Bob Save Super Bowl favourites with holders SuperSport United and Orlando Pirates losing at home in the quarer-finals.
A headed goal from substitute Ernest Marumo with 11 minutes remaining at Caledonian Stadium gave relegation-threatened AmaZulu a shock 1-0 win over SuperSport on Friday night.
And a superbly-struck shot from Peter Khoabane with just five minutes gone at sparsely-populated FNB Stadium was sufficient to give Bush Bucks success by a similar score over Pirates on Saturday afternoon.
These results can only increase the pulse rates in the Kaizer Chiefs and Sundowns camps as they are expected to prove too strong for Manning Rangers and Free State Stars respectively on Sunday.
The AmaZulu result represented an amazing turnaround as only last Sunday SuperSport struck seven past them in a vital Castle Premiership relegation showdown at Kings Park.
Jean-Paul Bang-Penda scored two of those goals in Durban, but had no luck second time round and was replaced by Zimbabwean Tauya Mrewa at half-time in Pretoria.
Former Vaal Professionals star Marumo had been on the field only six minutes when he finished off an Oscar Mohohlo free kick to prove that football truly is a funny game.
Wilfred Mugeyi held off three Pirates defenders before pushing the ball into the path of another ex-Vaal Monster and Khoabane rifled an unstoppable right-foot drive past William Okpara from well outside the penalty area.
Pirates were bitterly disappointing as they sought an equaliser, displaying little imagination and wild shooting against a disciplined Bucks defence. It was a sweet result for Viktor Bondarenko, who coached the Buccaneers twice.