Pirates PSL Champions 2010/2011

Bucs League Champions at the expense of youthful Ajax!  

Samukele Manzini

The east side of Soweto was celebrating a league title on Saturday. Orlando Pirates were crowned league champions after defeating Golden Arrows 2-1 at Orlando Stadium. The buccaneers ended the season with 60 points together with Ajax Cape Town but thanks to their supreme goal difference, they were able to clinch the title on goal difference. The Soweto giants have qualified for all domestic cup finals and manage to win the league this season. On Saturday, they have the opportunity to win the treble at the expense of Black Leopards. A three horse race that had fans of Orlando Pirates, Ajax Cape Town and Kaizer Chiefs at the edge of their seats till the final minutes of all three games, an exciting season that will definitely go down as one of the best since the inception of the Premier Soccer League (PSL) in 1997. Bucs captain Lucky Lekgwathi who was celebrating his 300^th appearance for the league champions led from the front, as when the chimps were down during the course of the season, kept on motivating his teammates and made them believe in themselves. Pirates lost only once away this season and 4 times all season and manage to annex 17 wins and 9 draws. Apart from long term injuries to midfielder Daine Klate and goalkeeper Moeneeb Josephs and the departure of Teko Modise to Sundowns, Bucs soldiered on to win the MTN8, reach the Telkom Knockout final, win the ABSA Premiership and reach the Nedbank cup final, so all in all, Pirates had a successful season. Former Kaizer Chiefs winger Arthur Zwane once said “kids don’t win leagues” and on Saturday Ajax proved that phrase right, when it was clear that the league was theirs to lose, with home ground advantage but they succumbed under pressure and the Sea Robbers took full advantage of that. Congratulation to Orlando Pirates for winning the 2010/2011 ABSA Premiership title.