Orlando Pirates have won MTN 8 a record four times in a row and on Saturday they made it five out of five finals after beating Sekhukhune United 3-0 and 4-0 on aggregate after winning the first leg 1-0 last Saturday.
The two teams were meeting for the third time in a week with Pirates winning all the three games after winning the league game 2-0 on Tuesday.
Sekhukhune had it all to do coming into the clash especially knowing that they had lost to Pirates on Tuesday in the league, a few days before the first-leg loss on home soil but it was Pirates who shaded the possession statistics.
Pirates were carving out half chances as the first half went on, while Sekhukhune were unable to provide any real attacking outlet with the likes of Lebone Seema and Sbangani Zulu keeping Muzeu and Mojela quiet in the final third.
The Buccaneers did go on to get the opening goal ten minutes before the halftime break when Mbuthuma went on a surging run down the left flank before picking out Thapelo Mokobodi, who calmly slotted into the bottom corner.
The lead was doubled three minutes when Mbuthuma was the chief destroy once again when he won possession and immediately played in Ghampani Lungu, who took one touch before firing past Toaster Nsabata to put the host 2-0 up on the day and 3-0 on aggregate.
Sekhukhune were a lot more livelier after the halftime break as they had no choice but to come out and attack but they were unable to lay a glove on Pirates shot-stopper Sipho Chaine between the sticks.
There was cause for concern for the Buccaneers after the hour mark as defender Lebone Seema had to be withdrawn after taking a knock earlier in the half, as he was replaced by Mpho Chabatsane while Boitumelo Radiopane replaced Yanela Mbuthuma, who finished the game with two assists.
The rest of the encounter panned out similar to Tuesday’s league encounter with Ouaddou’s charges confidently moving the ball around and pushing for a third goal, which nearly arrived with five minutes to play but Nsabata rushed off his line to deny the young Mpho Padime shortly after he was introduced.
The supporters at Orlando were certainly happy to see Padime get a few minutes on the day as the young midfielder played a big part in the third goal when his superb control led to Sebelebele combining with Tshepang Moremi before firing into an empty net to make it 3-0.
Now Pirates will wait to see whether they meet Golden Arrows or Mamelodi Sundowns in the finals.
Arrows took a 1-0 lead to the second semifinals to be played on Sunday at the King Goodwill Zwelethini in Durban.
