Gamphani Lungu announced his arrival at Orlando Pirates by scoring a winner late in extra time to help his side beat a 10-man Durban City 2-1 and advance to the semifinals of the MTN8.
The match was destined for penalties before Lungu, who came in as a sub in extra time, pounced to net a winner. Durban will feel hard done by as they showed some fight despite being a man down, but in the end, Pirates showed their quality to sink them.
Having won this title four times in succession, the Buccaneers are looking to clinch it for the fifth successive time and are on course to do so.
The home side took a lead in the first half through a Patrick Maswanganyi spot kick, before Durban equalised in the second through Jean Lubumba.
Despite Pirates throwing in everything, Durban were ready for a fight and the home side were left frustrated.
Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouaddou made just one change from their 1-0 win over Milford last week as Nkosikhona Ndaba came in for Deon Hotto.
Unlike last season in the league where they were defensive in their goalless draw, the visitors were more adventurous but failed to create chances.
The best chance of the game came in the 20th minute when Thalente Mbatha drew a save from Durban goalkeeper Fredrick Asare.
It was a dominant performance from the home side in the first half and they had several chances to break the deadlock but failed to take them, with Yanele Mbuthuma coming close moments later but failing to hit the target.
Pirates were awarded a penalty 10 minutes from interval after Tshepang Moremi was hacked inside the box by Brooklyn Poggenpoel, who was then given a straight red card and Maswanganyi made no mistake as he converted to give his side a lead.
Durban offered little going forward in the first half and hardly tested Pirates goalkeeper Sipho Chaine who was reduced to being a spectator and went into the interval without having txo face a shot on target.
The Buccaneers suffered a blow when captain Nkosi was substituted after interval by Sbangani Zulu and Durban capitalised on that as they found an equaliser through Lubumba.
Durban were better in the second half as they frustrated Pirates and didn’t look like a team who were one man down.
Pirates created a lot of chances in the second half but were denied by either good goalkeeping by Asare or good defending by the Durban defence, who opted for a low block.
The match finished 1-1 after regulation time and needed extra time to decide the winner and Lungu pounced to score late to hand the Buccaneers a winner.
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