ORLANDO Pirates continued to ‘put the heat’ on Mamelodi Sundowns in the race for the Betway Premiership league title by taking full points from Stellenbosch FC at Athlone Stadium, Cape Town, on Tuesday night.
Evidence Makgopa and Patrick “Tito” Maswanganyi scored goals for Pirates in the first half.
Picking up three points from Pirates reduced the gap to two between them and Mamelodi Sundowns who will play against Kaizer Chiefs on Wednesday night. The Blacks are in second place on the log with 62 points after 27 games. They follow the Brazilians who have collected 64 after 27 games. Sundowns need to win all three games to win the Premier League title for the ninth time in a row. However, this will depend on whether the Blacks continue to pick up points in the remaining three games. Pirates are fighting to end Sundowns’ dominance in the South African league and to end the years of losing the league.
In Stellies, Pirates showed that they are determined to score goals but were unable to break through the back wall built by Mosa Lebusa, who left Sundowns, and Olisa Ndah, who was released from Zimnyama. However, everything ended up falling apart in the 41st minute when Makgopa got up between the stoppers and hit the ball that was bent on the right side. After this goal, the Pirates came back strongly with the result that Maswanganyi scored in the second after four minutes.
In the second half, Stellies tried to come back into the game after making changes but ended up failing to score.
In the next match, Pirates will face Magesi at Peter Mokaba Stadium, Polokwane, on Saturday at 8pm.