Gallants shock Pirates with a late winner in Bloemfontein as Ouaddou's drastic changes continue to backfire

The Herald

3 days ago

Orlando Pirates' start to the Betway Premiership suffered another huge blow when they lost a second successive match, this time suffering a shock 2-1 defeat to Marumo Gallants at a bouncing Dr Molemela Stadium in Bloemfontein on Tuesday.
The loss means Bucs have already given away six points in two league matches under new coach Abdeslam Ouaddou, who continues to chop and change his starting XI.
'We're going to analyse to see what's going wrong, especially in the second half. The changes that we made didn't give us what we expected,' a disappointed Ouaddou said after the match.
A goal in referee's optional time by late substitute Jaisen Clifford gave Gallants all three points and took the Free State-based club to the top of the Premiership. It was their second victory in a row after they won their opening match 2-1 against Richards Bay away last Saturday.
Pirates dominated the early exchanges and were duly rewarded in the 16th minute when left back Deon Hotto was given enough space to find Patrick Maswanganyi inside the area to tap in the opener.
Just before Gallants got their equaliser Pirates were unlucky not to have been awarded a spot kick after Oswin Appollis was fouled inside the area by Siyabonga Nhlapo. A few minutes before that Gallants goalkeeper Washington Arubi had denied both Appollis and Boitumelo Radiopane when he made two point-blank saves.
Gallants did well to compose themselves and found an equaliser on the stroke of halftime. It was a team goal as Gallants rotated the ball around the Pirates defence before it reached Daniel Msendami, who made no mistake with a deft finish inside the area.
Ouaddou continued to leave last season regulars like Thalente Mbatha, Deano van Rooyen and striker Tshegofatso Mabasa out of his match-day squad. Added to that list in this match was Bucs skipper Nkosinathi Sibisi, whose place was taken by 23-year-old centre back Lebone Seema. Seema was partnered with 19-year-old Mbekezeli Mbokazi, who stood in as captain in the absence of Sibisi.
Playing this match with one eye on Saturday's blockbuster first leg of the MTN8 semifinal against Mamelodi Sundowns in Orlando, Ouaddou also placed Relebohile Mofokeng and Sipho Mbule on the bench and handed starting berths to Tshepang Moremi and Abdoulaye Mariko.
With so many changes, there was limited coherence in Bucs' play as many of these players are yet to fully know each other.
As Gallants saw little of the ball, they looked to catch their visitors on the break and continued to try that trick in the second half until Clifford found the winner in the third added minute.
Mofokeng and striker Evidence Makgopa were eventually introduced for Moremi and Radiopane early in the second half while former Chippa United player Sinoxolo Kwayiba came on for Mariko to make his debut with 20 minutes remaining on the clock.
Try as Pirates did to get the winner, their combinations were simply not having the desired effect as their final ball was poor if not easily defended by Gallants, who looked happy to add a point to the three before they got a bonus with Clifford thumping in the late winner.
Having already lost six points in two opening league matches, Ouaddou will go to Saturday's game against Sundowns under huge pressure to get back to winning ways.
Anything less than a win in that match will further infuriate some of the Bucs supporters who left Orlando disappointed last Saturday when they opened the league campaign with a 1-0 loss against Sekhukhune United.