Orlando Pirates fire past CT City to move top

A solitary goal courtesy of Thabo Qalinge helped Orlando Pirates beat Cape Town City 1-0 at the FNB Stadium on Tuesday night in the Absa Premiership.

Resulting in their third victory, coach Milutin Sredojevic's men now occupy the top spot in the Premiership with 11 points from five rounds of matches.

The opening 10 minutes saw the hosts making brilliant moves which resulted in Bernard Morrison passing the ball to Thembinkosi Lorch, who made a fine run behind the defence, but City's goalkeeper Shu-Aib Walters came out to make a good save for a corner.

Resulting from a corner, Musa Nyatama received a pass from Qalinge and the former failed to lower his shot with only Walters to beat.

In the 13th minute, Lyle Lakay drilled a wonderful set piece in search of the left corner, but keeper Wayne Sandilands was equal to the task to concede a corner kick.

Just after the 30th minute, coach Benni McCarthy's men scored through Lehlohonolo Majoro after Sandilands mishandled the ball, but the referee disallowed the goal.

Despite both sides pulling all the stops to break the deadlock, there were no clear cut chances in the dying stages of the opening half as the score remained at 0-0.

However coming from the tunnel, the Buccaneers continued to probe for an opening goal and made an entry in City's final third in the 68th minute, but Qalinge's attempt from the box sailed inches wide from Walters' left corner.

A few minutes later, Qalinge was penalised for an off-the-ball incident on the edge of the area and Lakay's curling set piece was punched away by Sandilands for the second time.

It took the hosts 82 minutes to break the deadlock when a good move against the run of play was finished by Qalinge with a easy tap-in from the near post as Walters was found in no-man's land after a brilliant cross from Lyle Foster.

City pulled all their tricks to secure a point away, but the hosts’ defence was solid to ensure they retain the full three points at home.

The second league defeat for the Citizens sees them moving to the seventh spot on the log table with six points from four matches so far.

Orlando Pirates (0) 1 (Qalinge 82')

Cape Town City 0

Orlando Pirates: Sandilands, Jele, Nyauza, Maela, Dube, Matlaba, Nyatama, Qalinge, Makola (Kutumela 59'), Lorch (Memela 75'), Morrison (Foster 51')

Cape Town City: Walters, Mkhize, Fielies, Johannes, Seedat, Matsi, Putsche, Nodada, Lakay, Patosi (Edmilson 71'), Majoro (Obina 70')