Orlando Pirates survived a second-half scare to narrowly beat Baroka 2-1 at the New Peter Mokaba Stadium in their Absa Premiership game on Saturday afternoon.

Pirates came into the game off the back of a disappointing result after they threw away a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 with Cape Town City, ending their two-match winning streak. Milutin Sredojevic would have been desperate to get back to winning ways and continue to climb the table.

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Baroka, on the other hand, have got their campaign off to a poor start, winning only once, a 2-1 home win over Cape Town City, drawing twice and losing three of their opening six fixtures.

Last season, the Buccaneers won 3-1 at home but could only manage a 1-1 draw at the New Peter Mokaba Stadium and would undoubtedly be looking to improve on their away performance of the previous campaign.

Pirates started the game well and could have taken the lead on a couple of occasions as both Augustine Mulenga and Thembinkosi Lorch squandered their early chances.

The Buccaneers eventually opened the lead in the 32nd minute as Vincent Pule latched on to a Lorch pass before rifling a powerful strike from the outside the box, which flew into the left-hand corner.

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Six minutes later, the visitors got their second. This time, the roles were reversed as it was Pule who capitalised on a defensive error before passing to Lorch, who finished from close range.

Sredojevic’s team were 2-0 up at the break and would have been looking to avoid a similar meltdown to that which they suffered against Cape Town City on Wednesday.

Despite the two-goal advantage, Pirates struggled for fluency in the second half as Baroka finally began to pose a threat to Siyabonga Mpontshane’s goal.

Bakgaga then got right back into the game as they pulled a goal back with 79 minutes played as a corner kick found an unmarked Onkabetse Makgantai, who made no mistake with his finish.

Pirates were then looking to slow things down and kill the pace of the game, while Baroka drove forward when in possession of the ball.

It was, however, the Soweto giants who held on for the victory to take the vital three points.

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Photo: Kabelo Leputu/BackpagePix