Orlando Pirates’ poor start to the season continued on Tuesday night after they suffered their second successive loss of the new 2025/26 campaign. The Buccaneers were defeated by a resurgent Marumo Gallants 2-1 at the Dr Petrus Molemela Stadium in Bloemfontein – and this is after they were handed their first loss by Sekhukhune United last Saturday at Orlando in Soweto.
In Pretoria, Mamelodi Sundowns leapfrogged to second spot on the Betway Premiership log table after they turned their fortunes around and nailed AmaZulu 2-0, also on Tuesday. Sundowns also had a lethargic start with a 1-1 draw in their opening match against Chippa United over the weekend. But against Usuthu, Masandawana regrouped and sent a strong warning that the draw against Chippa was just a minor glitch.
Pirates are now anchoring the league table from the bottom with zero points in two outings and new coach Abdeslam Ouaddou is already under incredible pressure from Bucs supporters. The results are a big setback for the die-hard Pirates supporters who were upbeat about challenging for the league honours this season, especially after finishing second for three consecutive years.
Credit should go to Gallants, who are the only team to have collected maximum points yet. They played like a well-coached side and did not show their fancied opponents any respect. Trips to Bloemfontein are going to be painful for many teams this season.
Pirates started brightly and were knocking on the door as early as the first minute when Boitumelo Radiopane forced a save from Washington Arubi. It was clear that Bucs were not in the mood to take things easy when Patrick Maswanganyi opened the scoring with a deft touch from a Deon Hotto cross in the 16th minute.
Bucs’ new arrival Oswin Appollis was in the thick of things and missed two opportunities to get on the scoring sheet. Arubi was on high alert and produced magnificent saves to keep his side in the match.
On the stroke of halftime, Daniel Msendami drilled the ball into the Pirates net after some lovely inter-passing and ball control from the Gallants midfielders. In the second period, Pirates coach introduced Relebohile Mofokeng and Evidence Makgopa in search of the winning goal. The duo added more spark but Gallants defended gallantly and kept the Bucs strikers at bay. Super-sub Jaisen Clifford silenced the Pirates fans when his flying kick in injury time connected with a cross from the left to make the score 2-1.
For Sundowns, Iqraam Rayners scored in the 53rd minute while Tashreeq Matthews put the final nail in the coffin during the referees optional time.
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