CAF Champions League

Pirates put Horoya to the sword

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Augustine Mulenga of Orlando Pirates challenged by Hudu Yakubu of Horoya

Orlando Pirates cruised to a 3-0 victory over Horoya in their Caf Champions League group stage clash at Orlando Stadium on Friday night.

Pirates came into the game looking for their first win of the competition after kicking off their campaign with a 0-0 draw in Zimbabwe against FC Platinum last weekend.

Horoya also started their campaign with a draw when they held Tunisian giants Espérance Sportive de Tunis to a 1-1 draw in Equatorial Guinea.

The two teams met for the first time in this encounter, although Horoya have come up against South African teams before, having faced SuperSport United in the Caf Confederation Cup and Mamelodi Sundowns in the Champions League, where they drew all four matches.

The Buccaneers started the game well, looking to dominate possession and control the tempo of the match. This start set the tone for the game as the visitors were clearly happy to play on the counter.

The home side created their first real opening as Kudakwashe Mahachi had his shot deflected over with only 15 minutes gone.

Next it was Justin Shonga, who was on the end of a good ball. However, he hit a tame shot straight at the keeper.

Pirates continued to push forward and came close to opening the scoring when Thembinkhosi Lorch got on to the end of a square pass across the face of goal, but he could only manage to rifle his shot against the upright with 28 minutes gone.

Horoya were offering little in attack, and finally succumbed to the Pirates’ pressure on the stroke of half-time. Lorch was slipped in behind and the winger twisted and turned, leaving the defenders in his wake, before firing a powerful shot in at the near post.

1-0 at the break with the Sea Robbers seemingly in control.

Pirates came out with the same intent in the second stanza, and despite playing some good football they were struggling to deliver the final ball.

That was until Shonga capitalised on some poor goalkeeping to double his side’s lead. The Zambian was played in behind and the keeper came rushing off his line, Shonga hit his shot early, leaving the keeper in no man’s land as the ball trickled over the line. 2-0 with 74 minutes played.

Just two minutes later Pirates killed the game off as a contest. It was that man Shonga again who grabbed his brace after a ball over the top was headed down into his path, the forward taking a touch before firing a powerful effort that hit the back of the net despite the keeper getting a touch to it. 3-0 to the Soweto giants with 76 minutes gone.

The game became scrappy in the final 15 minutes as the visitors began to lunge into tackles. The home side, however, managed to see out the remainder of the game and claim the vital three point to go top of their group.

Photo: Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix