Kabelo Dlamini nets a double as Orlando Pirates seal place in Nedbank Cup final

Dlamini opened the scoring as early as the fifth minute when he curled home a free kick that left home goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali flat-footed.

The Chilli Boys then had a sustained period of pressure after conceding as early as they did but the hosts could not capitalise and turn the dominance into an equaliser.

Instead it was the Buccaneers that took a 2-0 lead into the halftime break when Patrick Maswanganyi did well on the right-wing and squared for Dlamini to finish.

The Chippa defence only had themselves to blame though as they stopped playing and were caught static after they thought Maswanganyi had lost the ball and it went out of play on the touchline.

The home side needed a quick start after the interval and they were back in the contest on the hour mark when substitute Elmo Kambindu bundled in a cross.

The last four clash was then on a knife-edge with the capacity crowd at the venue in Gqeberha ramping up the atmosphere.

Pirates coach Jose Riveiro needed to disrupt the flow of the home side as the match was entering the final 10 minutes and it was defender Tapelo Xoki who found the net to seal the game.

The Chippa defence was once again found wanting as they allowed a free kick to float into the back-post and Xoki snuck in to apply the finish.

There was late drama when former Pirates forward Bienvenu Eva Nga was shown a second yellow card and given his marching orders by the referee to leave the Chilli Boys to play the dying stages of the match with 10 men.

Pirates will wait for the other semifinal clash between Stellenbosch and Mamelodi Sundowns on Sunday to see who they will play in the showpiece match at the end of the season.

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