Abdeslam Ouaddou stands by Orlando Pirates' performance in hard-fought MTN8 victory

New signing Ghampani Lungu produced a moment of magic against a 10-man City on Saturday, to keep their MTN8 title defence alive.

Bucs broke the deadlock at the Orlando Amstel Arena through a Patrick Maswanganyi penalty in the 37th minute after Tshepang Moremi was brought down inside the box by Brooklyn Poggenpoel, who was shown a red card for the challenge.

Despite playing with 10 men, Durban City came out of the second half with renewed purpose and found an equaliser just seven minutes after the restart as Jean Lwamba Lubumba made no mistake from close range.

With neither side able to find a winner in regulation time, the match went into extra-time.

Just when the match appeared destined for a penalty shootout, Lungu found the decisive breakthrough with a superb volley in the final minute of extra-time.

The late goal booked Pirates' place in the MTN8 semi-finals and kept alive their hopes of lifting the Wafa Wafa trophy for a fifth consecutive time.

Speaking after the game, Ouaddou told SABC Sport: "Look, first of all we know that MTN8 cup matches are all the time difficult and I think it's the magic of this competition, nobody will come here in Orlando Pirates and to give you the game."

Ouaddou added that the loss of Nkosinathi Sibisi at half-time had an impact on their performance.

"So, of course we started the game like what we want, putting the tempo, having control, I think we could've killed the game earlier before, but we missed some important big chances and I had to make some changes at the halftime because Sibisi was injured," he said.

"I think it created some imbalance in that area; we conceded a goal. But what I liked it's the braveness, character, personality of my team.

"We believed until the end and went until the into extra-time. But I think we could've killed the game before because Pirates really dominated that game," Ouaddou concluded.