Africa-Press – South-Africa. Orlando Pirates advanced to final of the MTN8 after beating Mamelodi Sundowns 3-0 in the second-leg of their semi-final in Polokwane on Saturday.
RECAP | MTN8 semi-final leg 1 – Mamelodi Sundowns v Orlando Pirates
Kermit Erasmus found the back of the net in the first half before Monnapule Saleng sealed the victory with two late goals for the Buccaneers.
After the first-leg ended goalless, Pirates knew the value of what an away goal would bring and struck a crucial blow early at the Peter Mokaba stadium.
In the eighth minute, Saleng found space on the right-wing and used his trickery to beat Aubrey Modiba before crossing for Erasmus to head home.
It was the near-perfect start for the Soweto giants, with Sundowns now having to find two goals to win the tie and go through to the final.
Masandawana began to assert their dominance in terms of controlling most of the ball possession but could not break down a stodgy Pirates defence to create any clear-cut openings.
The only effort that largely troubled goalkeeper Siyabonga Mpontshane in the first half was from long range when Teboho Mokoena tried his luck.
Sundowns seemed to come out with more intensity in their attack after the halftime break and came close to equalising when substitute Neo Maema shot just wide on the hour mark.
The defending champions seemed to become desperate as the minutes ticked away and at times, went out of character as they flung hopeless crosses into the box, which Mpontshane easily dealt with.
With Sundowns throwing more players forward to get back in the game, Pirates were looking dangerous on the counter-attacks and they found the second goal to kill the game off with eight minutes remaining.
Substitute Zakhele Lepasa went on a run down the left-wing before sending a loss cross into Saleng, who beat keeper Ronwin Williams.
Sundowns’ frustrating day was summed up in injury time when Modiba was shown a red card for kicking out at Saleng.
The winger then picked himself up and scored again to seal his brace and put the icing on the cake for Pirates.
Pirates will either play Kaizer Chiefs or AmaZulu with their MTN8 semi-final (aggregate 1-1) to take place on Sunday (15:30).
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