Orlando Pirates booked their place in the next round of the Caf Champions League following a comfortable 3-0 win over Djabal Club in the first preliminary round second leg at the Orlando Stadium on Friday evening.

The result gave the Buccaneers a 4-0 win over the Islanders on the whole. They will now move on to the next round and play the winner of Jwaneng Galaxy and Vipers.

After their 1-0 win in the Comoros, the Buccaneers had a small lead going into the second leg of the tie. They wanted to show who was boss on their home turf.

The game didn’t start until the 25th minute, when the visitors failed to clear their lines after a set piece. This gave Zakhele Lepasa, who was in good form, a chance to score with the help of a mistake by the keeper, Mihissoini Annisse.

That made it harder for Djabal to get back into the game, since they were now two goals behind on the whole.

The Buccaneers, on the other hand, kept putting pressure on the other side, where most of the action was.

Late in the first half, Patrick Maswanganyi tried to make something happen by passing the ball across the field to Lepasa. Lepasa was immediately surrounded by the defence and couldn’t shoot.

Pirates kept their lead in the second period, even though the visitors had a brief surge forward that only resulted in a miss-hit shot.

In the 54th minute, Kabelo Dlamini came close with a shot that went just wide after he cut in from the side.

This happened just before Maswanganyi scored an amazing goal. He had a lot of space outside the box, so he took advantage of it by firing a powerful shot into the back of the net to give the home team a two-goal lead for the night.

It didn’t take long for Pirates to make it 3-0. In the 63rd minute, Lepasa scored his second goal after getting the ball inside the penalty area and calmly putting it in.

Even though the Soweto Giants had a big lead, they kept control of the game. Substitutes Relebohile Mofokeng and Deon Hotto worked well together on the left side.

Souaibou Marou could have made the lead bigger in the last few seconds, but he missed the goal with his header. Then, Ndabayithethwa Ndlondlo missed from close range in extra time.

It was an easy win for the Buccaneers, who moved on to the Second Preliminary Round with another strong performance at home.

Photo by Sydney Mahlangu/BackpagePix