{"id":4527,"date":"2025-05-07T12:21:25","date_gmt":"2025-05-07T10:21:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/?p=4527"},"modified":"2026-03-12T10:39:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T08:39:43","slug":"orlando-pirates-stay-in-the-hunt-after-2-1-win-against-arrows-is-the-title-dream-still-alive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/orlando-pirates-stay-in-the-hunt-after-2-1-win-against-arrows-is-the-title-dream-still-alive\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Pirates Stay in the Hunt After 2-1 Win Against Arrows \u2013 Is the Title Dream Still Alive?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Orlando Pirates kept their faint Betway Premiership title hopes alive with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Golden Arrows at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Tuesday night. The victory closed the gap between the Buccaneers and league leaders Mamelodi Sundowns to nine points, with Pirates still holding a game in hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-major-line-up-changes-from-the-derby-win\"><strong>Major Line-Up Changes from the Derby Win<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Following their impressive showing in the Soweto Derby win over Kaizer Chiefs, coach Jose Riveiro rang the changes \u2013 making seven alterations to the line-up. Only Mbekezeli Mbokazi, Bandile Shandu, Tapelo Xoki, and Makhehlene Makhaula retained their places from the team that triumphed at FNB Stadium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"gaute-2629425151\" class=\"gaute-inbetween-content gaute-entity-placement\" style=\"margin-top: 30px;margin-bottom: 30px;margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;text-align: center;\"><div class=\"gaute-adlabel\">Advertisement<\/div><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1852772760112594\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1852772760112594\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"1819787043\" \ndata-ad-format=\"auto\" data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-end-to-end-first-half-without-a-goal\"><strong>End-to-End First Half Without a Goal<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The midweek encounter proved to be an entertaining affair, with both sides playing open and attacking football. Despite several early opportunities for both teams, the score remained goalless at the interval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Golden Arrows targeted young left-back Yanga Madiba early on, looking to exploit his inexperience. Siyanda Mthanti came close to opening the scoring in the third minute, cutting inside before forcing a save from Melusi Buthelezi. Pirates quickly responded, with Shandu\u2019s cross-shot flashing across the face of goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arrows continued to pose a threat, particularly from set pieces, and nearly scored from a corner in the 11th minute when Nhlanhla Zwane\u2019s unmarked header went just wide. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.citizen.co.za\/sport\/soccer\/local-soccer\/pirates-shoot-down-arrows-to-keep-slim-league-title-chance-alive\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Buccaneers<\/a> had their own chances too \u2013 Karim Kimvuidi\u2019s clever play and deflected shot nearly paid off, while Xoki squandered a close-range opportunity from the resulting corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Just before half-time, Mthanti once again tested the Pirates defence, sprinting past Xoki only to fire wide of goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-maswanganyi-and-mabasa-deliver-key-goals\"><strong>Maswanganyi and Mabasa Deliver Key Goals<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Pirates eventually broke the deadlock six minutes into the second half. Kabelo Dlamini delivered a precise pass to Patrick Maswanganyi, who timed his run perfectly, beat Arrows goalkeeper Edward Maova, and calmly slotted into an empty net.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, the lead was short-lived. Just eight minutes later, Mthanti capped his impressive performance by converting a superb cross from Velemseni Ndwandwe to bring Arrows level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The match-winner arrived in the 73rd minute, when substitute Tshegofatso Mabasa pounced on a defensive error. The Arrows backline failed to deal with a loose ball in the box, and Mabasa made no mistake with a well-executed volley to restore Pirates&#8217; advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Golden Arrows v Orlando Pirates | Match in 3 | Betway Premiership\" width=\"755\" height=\"425\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UFoInt6hGxg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"gaute-3645422217\" class=\"gaute-inbetween-content gaute-entity-placement\" style=\"margin-top: 30px;margin-bottom: 30px;margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;text-align: center;\"><div class=\"gaute-adlabel\">Advertisement<\/div><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1852772760112594\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1852772760112594\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"1819787043\" \ndata-ad-format=\"auto\" data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-orlando-pirates-title-hopes-still-alive-ahead-of-crucial-cup-final\"><strong>Orlando Pirates Title Hopes Still Alive Ahead of Crucial Cup Final<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The result keeps the Buccaneers in the title race, although they will need to maintain consistency and hope Sundowns drop points. Pirates now turn their attention to the Nedbank Cup final, where they will face Kaizer Chiefs once again at the very same Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Can Pirates keep their momentum going with silverware and a potential league push?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-betway-premiership-table\"><strong>Betway Premiership Table: <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><thead><tr><th>Pos<\/th><th>Team<\/th><th>P<\/th><th>W<\/th><th>D<\/th><th>L<\/th><th>Pts<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>1<\/td><td>Mamelodi Sundowns<\/td><td>24<\/td><td>20<\/td><td>1<\/td><td>3<\/td><td>61<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>2<\/td><td>Orlando Pirates<\/td><td>23<\/td><td>17<\/td><td>1<\/td><td>5<\/td><td>52<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>3<\/td><td>Sekhukhune United<\/td><td>26<\/td><td>13<\/td><td>6<\/td><td>7<\/td><td>45<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>4<\/td><td>Stellenbosch FC<\/td><td>25<\/td><td>12<\/td><td>8<\/td><td>5<\/td><td>44<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>5<\/td><td>TS Galaxy<\/td><td>27<\/td><td>8<\/td><td>10<\/td><td>9<\/td><td>34<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>6<\/td><td>AmaZulu FC<\/td><td>27<\/td><td>10<\/td><td>4<\/td><td>13<\/td><td>34<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>7<\/td><td>Polokwane City<\/td><td>26<\/td><td>8<\/td><td>9<\/td><td>9<\/td><td>33<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>8<\/td><td>Chippa United<\/td><td>25<\/td><td>8<\/td><td>6<\/td><td>11<\/td><td>30<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>9<\/td><td>Kaizer Chiefs<\/td><td>26<\/td><td>8<\/td><td>6<\/td><td>12<\/td><td>30<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>10<\/td><td>Marumo Gallants FC<\/td><td>26<\/td><td>8<\/td><td>6<\/td><td>12<\/td><td>30<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>11<\/td><td>Richards Bay<\/td><td>26<\/td><td>8<\/td><td>5<\/td><td>13<\/td><td>29<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>12<\/td><td>Magesi FC<\/td><td>25<\/td><td>8<\/td><td>5<\/td><td>12<\/td><td>29<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>13<\/td><td>SuperSport United<\/td><td>24<\/td><td>6<\/td><td>8<\/td><td>10<\/td><td>26<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>14<\/td><td>Golden Arrows<\/td><td>24<\/td><td>6<\/td><td>8<\/td><td>10<\/td><td>26<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>15<\/td><td>Cape Town City FC<\/td><td>26<\/td><td>6<\/td><td>5<\/td><td>15<\/td><td>23<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>16<\/td><td>Royal AM<\/td><td>0<\/td><td>0<\/td><td>0<\/td><td>0<\/td><td>0<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Related article: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/golden-arrows-vs-orlando-pirates-live-stream-today-6-may-2025\/\">Live Score and Updates: Golden Arrows vs Orlando Pirates<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Orlando Pirates kept their faint Betway Premiership title hopes alive with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Golden Arrows at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Tuesday night. The victory closed the gap between the Buccaneers and league leaders Mamelodi Sundowns to nine points, with Pirates still holding a game in hand. Major Line-Up Changes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":4533,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_focus_keyword":"","rank_math_title":"","rank_math_description":"Orlando Pirates kept their faint Betway Premiership title hopes alive with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Golden Arrows at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on...","footnotes":""},"categories":[56,64],"tags":[296,285,288],"class_list":{"0":"post-4527","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"category-sports-news","9":"tag-betway-premiership","10":"tag-psl-news","11":"tag-soccer"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4527"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4534,"href":"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4527\/revisions\/4534"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gauteng.net\/whats-on-g\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}