Orlando Pirates vs Golden Arrows: Gabadinho Mhango Looms Large as the Buccaneers Look to Pounce on Sundowns

• Orlando Pirates hosts Lamontville Golden Arrows tonight in a crucial DStv Premiership match for the Buccaneers
• A victory for the home side will extend the league race just a bit further after Mamelodi Sundowns dropped points
• The possible inclusion (or exclusion) of star Malawian forward Gabadinho Mhango is the spectre looming large over coach Mandla Ncikazi

There are more subplots to tonight's key DStv Premiership clash between Orlando Pirates and Lamontville Golden Arrows than a soapie.

The match kicks off at 19:30 at the Orlando Stadium, with the home side looking to reduce Mamelodi Sundown's lead at the top of the table to 15 points. The last encounter in KwaZulu-Natal last November ended in a 0-0 stalemate.

TimesLIVE reported that star Malawian forward Gabadinho Mhango's continued exclusion from the Pirates team is hardly tenable. Last week Pirates co-coach Mandla Ncikazi caused controversy in his reason for leaving out the red-hot Mhango, who had a sensational African Cup of Nations tournament.

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In an interview with SuperSport, Ncikazi suggested that the PSL was bigger than AFCON to contextualise and justify's sidelining, saying:

"We recognise and acknowledge his performance at the Afcon but maybe the league in South Africa is bigger than the Afcon, but that is a question for another day."

Former Pirates super-sub Andries Sebola even offered his two cents' worth on the sideshow, telling SowetanLIVE that Ncikazi must play Mhango or leave the club.

Sebola said:

“Mhango is Pirates’ best striker at the moment, so he must start games. Mandla is losing the plot. When he says the PSL is bigger than Afcon, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about."

Spicing up the fixture against Arrows further, Ncikazi is up against his old side, where he made a name for himself for his efficiency and making the team competitive with a small budget.

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Second-placed Orlando Pirates will look to take advantage of log leaders Mamelodi Sundowns who dropped points against Baroka FC.

As reported on Sports Brief, Baroka scored in the dying seconds of the match against Sundowns to steal a point against the defending champions of the DStv Premiership. Victory would have put the Brazilians a near-impossible 20 points ahead of the Buccaneers.

Sundowns' management was not happy with the referee after the game and voiced their concerns with him all the way down the tunnel.