Orlando Pirates have sent a strong warning to other PSL teams that they are not going to take things easy this season after walloping Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila 4-1 in the Last-32 round of the Nedbank Cup at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday.
The ABC Motsepe League side felt the wrath of the Buccaneers as early as the ninth minute after Oswin Appollis was tripped inside the 18-area and new signing Andre de Jong scored from the penalty spot to give Bucs an early lead. Thalente Mbatha made it 2-0 with a deflected long-range shot seven minutes later.
Tshakhuma pulled one back via a peach of a free kick from Sithembiso Ngobe who left the Pirates goalkeeper seeing daylight stars. Second-half substitutes Patrick Maswanganyi and Sipho Mbule got the third and fourth goals respectively, crowning an impressive performance by the Buccaneers.
The Buccaneers will know who they will face in the Last 16 of the Ke Yona cup competition this week when the draw takes place on Wednesday.
Pirates already have the MTN8 and Carling Knockout titles in their trophy cabinet and are still on track in the Nedbank Cup and the Betway Premiership.
Bucs are currently on top of the league standings midway through the season, three points ahead of reigning champions Mamelodi Sundowns.
Should the Bucs manage to hang in there and continue sailing smoothly on a ship steered steadily by coach Abdeslam Ouaddou, they will complete a quadruple that has never been achieved in the Premier Soccer League (PSL) era.
The best Pirates have ever achieved in the history of the club was the unprecedented ‘double-treble’ ever witnessed in South African football, winning all three major domestic trophies (League, MTN8, and the Nedbank Cup) in consecutive seasons: 2010/11 and 2011/12.
This feat was attained under the tutelage of Dutch international coach Ruud Krol, who helped break a 7-year league title drought at that time.
