A sensational 57th-minute goal from busy Benett Chenene gave Orlando Pirates a 1-0 win over arch-rivals Kaizer Chiefs at the Eastern Province Rugby Stadium on Thursday night and the right to oppose England’s Tottenham Hotspur for a second time at Loftus on Saturday in the pre-season Vodacom Challenge series of matches.
It was a moment of inspiration from Chenene that was engineered initially by the mesmerising Lebohang Mokoena, which contrasted markedly to the general disarray in a game that contained much of the action of a Wild West movie and a similar absence of finesse and subtlety.
Pirates ultimately proved deserved winners after enjoying the greater number of opportunities and generally dominating play in the second period — although the Buccaneers almost squandered their advantage in the closing stages by dribbling continually and surrendering the ball when the situation cried out to retain possession.
Pirates and Chiefs have both been comprehensively beaten by Spurs in the past week during a tournament with a curious format, and they showed just why they were unable to match the North London club during a hectic, often hazardous encounter that resulted in Amakhosi’s Simphiwe Thsabalala being stretchered off midway through the second half and several others barely escaping a similar fate.
In truth, Pirates had a golden opportunity of sealing the issue two minutes after Chenene’s goal when Mokoena bamboozled the Chiefs defence and, after performing all the hard work with aplomb, squandered a point-blank sitter.
Immensely talented and with the potential to shine for Bafana, the youthful Mokoena appears to have lost his confidence in scoring goals and it seems like a month of Sundays since he last placed the ball in the net for Pirates.
But the miss-of-the-match belonged to durable Pirates fullback Lucky Legwathi, who ballooned the ball wide from 10m in the 24th minute with the goal at his mercy.
Chiefs rarely gave the impression they might score, with a rasping free-kick from Thabo Mooki, which was saved by Francis Chansa, in the 35th minute their most praiseworthy effort.
And the valiant Pirates’ goalkeeper, who kept Chiefs at bay with an ”over my dead body” attitude, shared the honours with Chenene as the game’s individual stars.
Chiefs threw everything into futile attack in the closing stages, sacrificing defender Patrick Mayo for midfielder David Mathebula in the process.
But Amakhosi, who have now added an unsuccessful Vodacom Challenge campaign to the failure to qualify for the Supa8 tournament, rarely looked likely to end a gloomy sequence of three defeats in which they have mustered a solitary goal. — Sapa