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Johannesburg - Following his heroic performance in the Carling Black Label Cup Orlando Pirates goalkeeper Brighton Mhlongo says he was confident that his team would walk away victorious after the game ended 1-1 in regulation time.
Pirates continued with their dominance over their perennial rivals Kaizer Chiefs, winning 4-3 in a penalty shootout, claiming the fifth edition of the off-season spectacle at the FNB stadium.
Sifiso Myeni opened the scoring with a thunderous free-kick to send the Buccaneers supporters into a frenzy before Chiefs levelled matters through Reneilwe Letsholonyane in the closing stages of the game.
The 24-year-old shot stopper was the hero on the day as he managed to save two penalties from Letsholonyane and Keagan Ritchie respectively. He revealed that his main objective was to save two spot kicks to hand the Buccaneers’ faithful some bragging rights ahead of the 2015/16 season.
“I am always confident when it comes to the penalty shoot-outs because we always practice them during our training sessions," admitted Mhlongo.
“So I just knew that that when the team needed me most I had to raise my hand and come to the party.
“We spoke as players before the penalties and we said to each other, guys we did our best inside the field and we couldn’t do it as we would have wanted.
“But now we had to try and do it via the penalties, if I manage to save two we’ll win the game and it happened just like that. But personally, I wanted to save more but we are grateful for a win as a team.”
Pirates will open their season against Ajax Cape Town in the MTN8 quarter-finals at the Orlando Stadium on Tuesday.
Kick-off is at 19:30.
