Orlando Pirates bounced back from their defeat by Ajax Cape Town in last weekend’s Telkom Knockout final to crush bottom club Bloemfontein Celtic 3-0 in a one-sided Absa Premiership fixture played at the Johannesburg Stadium on Wednesday night.
Bucs looked for the early breakthrough and came close when Lucas Thwala blasted a 20m free kick a fraction wide of the woodwork in the second minute.
Man-of-the-match Bennett Chenene forced Celtic’s Cameroon keeper, Patrick Tignyemb, to deal with a dangerous cross that was curling towards the far post in the 26th minute.
Chenene scored what must be a candidate for goal of the season in the 32nd minute when he waltzed past four Celtic defenders and unleashed an unstoppable shot that hit the far corner of the net, putting Bucs 1-0 ahead.
Bucs were in control in the opening half in which the goal-shy Phunya Sele-Sele strikers failed to test the well-marshalled Bucs defence. In fact, Pirates goalkeeper Moeneeb Josephs never had a difficult save to make all night.
Thembile Konono, deputising for injured midfield playmaker Teko Modise, tried his luck in dribbling the Celtic defence in the 41st minute, but he lost possession.
However, Konono made up for that mistake when he scored the second goal in the 50th minute, which was an 18m scorcher that bulged the back of the net to the delight of the 6 000 Bucs fans in the crowd.
Bucs hammered the final nail in Celtic’s coffin in the 68th minute when Thwala succeeded with a wicked long-range free kick.
The result leaves Celtic rock bottom of the Premiership with eight points from 13 matches. The team have notched one win in those 13 fixtures. And coach Mich D’Avray will have a lot of sleepless night ahead of the weekend’s Free State derby against Free State Stars at the Seisa Ramabodu Stadium.
Said Bucs coach Ruud Krol afterwards: ”It was important to bounce back with a big win. I am pleased with the response of the players after the cup final defeat.”
In other games played on Wednesday, Santos and AmaZulu played to a 1-1 draw; Arrows beat Wits 2-0; Sundowns beat Maritzburg United 3-0; and SuperSport United beat Bay United 1-0. — Sapa