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Radiopane shines as Pirates thrash Swallows in Soweto derby
The victory marked an eighth straight win for the young Buccaneers.
Boitumelo Radiopane of Orlando Pirates (Pic Sydney Mahlangu/BackpagePix)
It was another sterling performance for Orlando Pirates reserves as they thrashed struggling neighbours Swallows FC 5-1 in the DStv Diski Challenge (DDC) at the Dobsonville Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
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The victory marked an eighth straight win for the young Buccaneers, while registering their 10th league victory of the season in 12 games.
Lethal striker Boitumelo Radiopane begged a double brace for his side, while Katlego Cwinyane scored the other goal in their demolition of the young Birds.
Bucs early attack in the game handed them a penalty after a Swallows defender judged to have handled the ball inside the box. Radiopane, who is full of confidence stepped up and took the spot-kick and found the back of the net to give Pirates a lead in the fifth minute with the striker taking his goal tally for the campaign to 10th.
The home side looked to be struggling, but there were some promising attacks, which eventually ended fruitless, whereas Pirates looked dangerous whenever they were on attack.
In the 20th minute, some good touches by Radiopane afforded the goal-poacher with a chance to shoot and he unleashed a powerful shot to beat Swallows goalkeeper and extend the lead for Pirates.
Things got more bad for Swallows eight minutes later, as Chingwane made it 3-0 to give the Buccaneers a comfortable lead going into half-time.
In the second half, it was all about continuity for the Buccaneers. But, Swallows were aiming to stop conceding, as Pirates failed to get anything from the first 15 minutes.
That was until Radiopane struck again just four minutes after the hour mark as he registered a hat-trick, taking the score-line to 4-0.
The host would eventually pull one goal back in the 70th minute, but it was not enough as Pirates went on to grab their fifth through Radiopane once again with less than 15 minutes left of regular time.
Pirates were clinical in front of goal and there was nothing more Swallows could do, with Radiopane climbing the DDC top-scorer charts with 13 goals to his name. For Pirates, they now top the log with 30 points after 12 games, while Swallows remain at the bottom of the standings with nine points.
