It was no surprise that there were no goals in this dull Absa Premiership clash between Orlando Pirates and BidVest Wits. The 0-0 scoreline accurately sums up a game which will be a top candidate for the worst match of the season.
But the match will have pleased the Students’ coach Roger de Sa as it takes his side further away from the relegation zone. For Pirates, two draws in their last two games with four matches to play means they have only the top eight to aim for.
The match was full of mistakes, poor passing and bad soccer. To Wits’ credit they tried to make a game of it and were the better side. Pirates looked like they were simply marking time and could not wait to get the season over with. They lacked imagination and appeared to lack interest.
Wits gave the Buccaneer the run around in the opening half. The home side were unlucky not to have been 1-0 ahead at the break after a fierce rocket from Fabricio Rodrigues cannoned off the Bucs crossbar in the 34th minute.
Pirates coach Rudd Krol made four changes to the side which drew 0-0 against PSL leaders and defending champions SuperSport United during the week. He also handed Zambian international midfielder Isaac Chansa his debut and dropped star midfielder Teko Modise to the bench.
But the changes did little to stabilise the rocky Bucs ship that floundered against a Wits side that were fighting for their PSL lives during a scrappy opening 45 minutes which produced little constructive soccer.
Rodrigues tested Bucs goalkeeper Moeneeb Josephs with a long-range free kick which missed everybody expect the Bafana keeper who did well to tip the ball over his crossbar for a corner in the eighth minute.
Josephs was by far the busier of the two keepers with the Students teenager Daren Keet not called upon to make a difficult save in the opening half.
Josephs did well again in the 13th minute when he managed to cut out a dangerous cross by Thando Mngomeni inside his six-yard area.
Pirates were firing on one cylinder and it showed when Thulasizwe Mbuyane set up Andile Jali in front of goal but the Bucs midfielder sliced his shot wide if the target in the 19th minute.
Bucs Dikgang Mabalane found himself free on the right wing in the 22nd minute but instead of crossing the ball the out-of-sorts winger tamely shot at Keet.
Then came Rodrigues’ thunderbolt in the 34th minute from the edge of the Bucs penalty area which had beaten Josephs hands down but the ball crashed off the woodwork.
Bucs best chance came a minute from the interval when Mabalane hit the side netting after a defence splitting through ball from Gert Schalkwyk.
Wits continued to hold the upper hand in the second period. But it was Bucs who came close to breaking the deadlock in the 66th minute when Schalkwyk’s free kick from just inside the Wits half
sailed past the woodwork with nobody attacking the ball.
There was little goalmouth action from either side as the game deteriorated in the second half . Pirates only other chance came in the 90th minute when Chansa shot wide from inside the penalty area.
But worse was to follow for Wits when substitute Calvin Kadi on the counterattack late in injury time found himself with only Josephs to beat and then lost possession of the ball without being challenged by any Pirates defenders. It summed up a poor afternoon’s so called entertainment. – Sapa