Orlando Pirates claim first trophy in 6 years

Saturday’s evening’s result saw Pirates end their 6-year trophy drought.

It could have been all so different for Siwelele, which opened the scoring through Siphelele Luthuli soon after the game kicked off.

But the Sea Robbers hit back before half-time, equalising in the 32^nd minute when Deon Hotto was set up by teammate Vincent Pule.  

To make things worse for Bloem Celtic, they were soon down to ten men after Ronald Pfumbidzai was shown a red card for a tackle on Thembinkosi Lorch.  

Lorch scored the winning goal from the penalty spot in the 53^rd minute.  

Speaking after the game, man-of-the-match Ben Motshwari said the build-up to the final was not easy.  

“Finally, we get one in the cabinet for the club and we just had to push ourselves until that final whistle. It was a close one because Richard Ofori made a great save in the dying minutes.” 

Pirates coach Josef Zinnbauer praised the matchwinner Lorch’s performance.

“It was a difficult game. It was not easy, especially when you concede in the first minute, but we came quick back. We had a good first half with opportunities and in the second half, Lorch’s performance it was top and also a team effort.  

“We then scored the second goal which forced us to defend and we had our luck in the dying minutes when Ofori saved that ball and now we have a title.”  

Bloemfontein Celtic coach John Maduka said despite the loss, he was happy with his players’ performance.

“We managed to score a goal and after scoring a goal, we changed, and we were not the same with pumping the ball forward and which is not our game. 

“After losing the man, we had to play with 10 players, I think we played even much better because most of the time we controlled the ball, but it is football and our boys gave their best and it was not easy,” says Maduka.  

“We managed to be in the final, tried to compete, you could see in the second half Pirates were defending.”