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Pietermaritzburg - Maritzburg United put together an inspired first-half performance to engineer a 2-0 lead, then held on for the second 45 minutes to run out 2-1 winners against Orlando Pirates in a tense Premier Soccer League encounter at Harry Gwala Stadium last night.
United played like demons in the first half and defended like trojans in the second, and kudos must go to coach Ernst Middendorp for the manner in which he has organised the Team of Choice into a dangerous combination.
United came out firing up from the first whistle and had Bucs chasing shadows and on the ropes for the entire first half.
Long-range efforts went narrowly wide from Rudolf Bester and Felix Obada early. In the 18th minute a fingertip save from goalkeeper Moeneeb Josephs kept out a touch from Obada after Kurt Lentjies’s free-kick was not cleared by the Pirates defence.
From the resultant corner by Lentjies, Josephs was at full stretch to block Obada’s flicked-on header.
United took the lead in the 24th minute when Davids’s header from Lentjies’s corner on the right cannoned in off the head of Mahamutsa Rooi.
A stunned Pirates went a goal further down in the 31st minute when Josephs could only parry Davids’s header from Lentjies’s free-kick from the left and defender Mario Booysen slammed in his finish from close range.
In the 37th minute United had another gilt-edged chance to score when Obada was put through on the right and shot powerfully at Josephs, who pulled off the block.
After running Pirates ragged in the first half United opted to defend in the second, and for the first half-hour this worked effectively enough.
But with the Bucs increasingly piling on the pressur,e Andile Jali was allowed space on the edge of the area to slam his shot home and pull a goal back for Pirates.
United went on the attack again and seconds later Musa Nyatama struck the upright from Bester’s ball across goal.
After that Thulasizwe Mbuyane had a few chances to equalise for Pirates. The striker’s shot was pushed for a corner by United goalkeeper Shu-aib Walters in the 78th minute, and five minutes later Mbuyane’s strike hit the left upright.
An unbelievable diving save by Walters three minutes into injury time kept out a final effort.
