In an intense semifinal first leg clash Cape Town City played to a 1-1 draw against Orlando Pirates at the DHL Stadium in the MTN8 tournament on Wednesday evening.
The match was delayed from its original date due to bad weather in the Western Cape and conditions were much improved as the two sides played a highly contested encounter.
The opening 15 minutes of the clash showed the home team as the more convincing side, but Orlando Pirates did well to capitalise on winning possession and a blistering pass from Thabiso Sesane made sure that Relebohile Mofokeng was through on goal.
The teenage sensation did well to get the ball into the back of the net and opened the scoring for the visitors. Shortly afterwards the Citizens worked hard to find a breakthrough but the scoreline would remain to the advantage of Pirates into the break.
Sipho Chaine made two crucial saves to stop the home team from finding the equaliser in the first half.
The second stanza started off with the same high tempo and Keanu Cupido was looking dangerous to the Buccaneers backline. As the attempts on goal kept coming from City, they eventually found the equaliser through Jaeden Rhodes strike in the 61st minute,
Rhodes and Cupido continued to give Pirates trouble, but the scoreline remained level until the final whistle was blown. Sipho Chaine took home the award for the Man of the Match as he did well to keep the Citizens from grabbing the lead.
The second leg will be played at the Orlando Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
