Daine Klate claimed the first win of his Chippa United tenure after a late goal saw them edge Orlando Pirates 1-0 at the Orlando Stadium in the DStv Premiership on Sunday afternoon.
Jose Riveiro’s side created the better chances throughout the 90 minutes, but the Chilli Boys held firm at the back and went on to snatch an 86th-minute winner through Abdi Banda to inflict a first defeat of the campaign on the Buccaneers.
Chippa climbed up to 10th in the standings after going level on four points with the Soweto giants, who are two places above them.
Pirates came into the contest with the aim of keeping the momentum going after beating Swallows and drawing with Stellenbosch in their opening two matches, while Chippa were looking to bounce back from defeat to Royal AM in midweek.
The hosts attempted to gain early control of the encounter and fashioned their first real chance on 10 minutes when Kwame Peprah steered a header just wide of the left post from Thembinkosi Lorch’s cross.
Peprah went even closer two minutes later as he got on the end of a corner, only to see his flicked header cleared off the line.
The Eastern Cape outfit began to grow into the game and threatened midway through the first half with a header from Ronald Pfumbidzai that went narrowly past the left post following a corner.
Deon Hotto failed to test the keeper on 34 minutes after receiving the ball from Lorch out wide on the left as the Namibian dragged his shot across the face of goal from inside the box.
Richard Ofori had the first save to make in the final minute of the half when he got down to push Diego Appollis’ shot around the post to ensure the two teams headed into the half-time interval still deadlocked at 0-0.
Bucs were on the attack again in the 52nd minute as Lorch latched onto an exquisite pass from Peprah inside the area, but the end-product was lacking as he fired well wide of the right post.
Riveiro made three substitutions after the hour mark in an attempt to alter the scoreline and Eva Nga Bienvenu almost made an immediate impact when he sent a diving header the wrong side of the right post after getting on the end of Lorch’s 70th-minute cross.
Lorch then looked to set up Thabang Monare with a chipped pass three minutes later, but the right-back could only direct his header wide of the left post and Bienvenu showed a lack of composure as he blazed wide of goal from the edge of the box on 79 minutes.
The visitors had seen very little of the ball in the second half and offered no threat up front, but they took the lead against the run of play six minutes from time when Banda powered a header past Ofori from a corner to stun the home crowd.
The Sea Robbers mounted a late attack in the hope of rescuing a point, but Vincent Pule was unable to beat Lloyd Kazapua with a rasping half-volley from inside the box as the Chilli Boys held on the record their first victory under Klate.
