A penalty in injury-time handed Orlando Pirates a 3-2 home win over Mamelodi Sundowns in the MTN8 semi-final, first leg on Sunday.
Thulasizwe Mbuyane opened the scoring for Bucs in the sixth minute, but Katlego Mphela equalised with a penalty just 10 minutes later.
Musa Nyatama put Sundowns ahead on 19 minutes. In the second half, Tlou Segolela had a goal disallowed for a dubious off-side decision, before equalising on 79 minutes.
Finally, Segolela was fouled by Surprise Moriri in the box in injury time and Bongani Ndulula made no mistake with the resultant penalty.
Both teams came out all guns blazing from the first whistle.
The first goal was superbly set up by Benni McCarthy, who played a delicate defence-splitting pass through to Mbuyane inside the box. “Juju” divided two defenders with a touch before slipping the ball past Wayne Sandilands.
Sundowns hit back quickly, as after a great passing movement Lebohang Mokoena was pulled down inside the box by Pirates captain Lucky Lekgwathi.
Mphela stepped up to the spot, but his shot was brilliantly saved by Moeneeb Josephs, diving high to his right. The ball was palmed back into Mphela’s path, and he controlled before slotting it home.
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Just four minutes later the Brazilians took the lead after a great counter-attack.
Elias Pelembe slipped down the left flank and sent in a point-perfect pass to Musa Nyatama, who finished off the move with a textbook volley to make it 2-1.
Pirates came within centimetres of equalising, when Ramahlwe Mphahlele tried to clear the ball on the edge of his own box, but saw his clearance rebound off Daine Klate and head towards goal.
Sandilands was out of position, and could only watch as the ball hit the crossbar.
In the second half the Brazilians seemed happy to sit back, while Pirates pushed forward in numbers.
Bucs’ relentless pressure paid off when Segolela found the back of the net with a strong shot from just inside the 18-yard area that rattled the underside of the crossbar before going in.
In the second minute of added time Segolela was in the thick of the action again, winning Bucs a penalty after being brought down clumsily by Moriri.
Ndulula coolly stepped up and sent the keeper the wrong way.
