The first half was a mixed-bag of some shocking errors and misses by both sides and the second period was no better.
The win moved Pirates back to the top of the table on 44 points and are only ahead of Sundowns via a slightly better goal difference after Ritchie headed Luvuyo Memela’s free kick into his own net when a 0-0 stalemate was written all over this match.
Referee Victor Hlungwani was also not helping matters with his decision to breath with his whistle, blowing for almost each and every minimal contact in front of his eyes. While it took Pirates 19 minutes to have their first shot in anger, it was the home side which should have opened the score with Ritchie, Gabadinho Mhango and Gift Motupa failing to punish the visitors when they had some good chances inside the first ten minutes.
With Thembinkosi Lorch suspended and Vincent Pule still injured, Pirates coach Milutin Sredojevic was forced to give striker Thamsanqa Gabuza his first start since his last dramatic match against Black Leopards towards the end of August in which he left the field in frustration after being booed by Pirates supporters for missing as many sitters.
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