Mbaeva stars as Arrows pierce Pirates

Cape Town -Golden Arrows moved into the top eight of the Absa Premiership with a surprise 2-0 win over Orlando Pirates at Orlando Stadium on Wednesday night.

Second half goals from Kudakwashe Mahachi and Gladwin Shitolo handed the Durban side the three points which sees them up to seventh place on the table with 14 points from eight matches.

Pirates, on the other hand, see their disastrous form in the league continue with this loss extending their winless run in the Absa Premiership to five matches, leaving them in a lowly 13^th place on the table with five points from seven games.

It was a night of missed opportunities for the Buccaneers who controlled the game from start to finish, but could not beat ‘man of the match’ and Arrows goalkeeper Maximilian Mbaeva.

The away side in retrospect only had a few chances on goal and they grabbed them with both hands.

In the eighth minute a mistake in defence by Arrows allowed Kermit Erasmus an opportunity to score, but the Pirates striker shot wide with an empty goal at his mercy in the eighth minute.

In the 30^th minute Pirates were a bit unfortunate to see Happy Jele leave the field injured and replaced by Edwin.

Two minutes later Luvuyo Memela showed good pace to drive into the Arrows box, but Mbaeva showed real bravery to dive at the feet of the attacker and clear the ball.

Mbaeva made two more spectacular saves in the 40^th minute to deny Pirates. First he stopped Erasmus from point blank range after he latched onto a cross from Memela and was then got quickly to his feet to deny Mpho Mvelase as well.

In the 52^nd minute Arrows took the lead after Mahachi drove into the box from the left flank and buried the ball into the corner of the net,  1-0.

In the 66^th minute Gift Motupa came close to equalising, but his 18-yard shot was saved by the fingertips of Mbaeva.

Six minutes later Mbaeva was called into action once more and he did not disappoint to close down Lehlohonolo Majoro who was through on goal.

In the 83^rd minute Arrows made certain of the three points with a rare foray forward that concluded with Gladwin Shitolo driving the ball home from 16-yards out, 2-0.