CAF Confederations Cup: Orlando Pirates Get Back on Track With 6 Goal Defeat of Eswatini's Royal Leopards

• Orlando Pirates got their CAF Confederations Cup campaign back on track with a thumping 6-2 win over Royal Leopards of Eswatini
• The match was held in Nelspruit's Mbombela, though the Swati side was the home side for the high scoring encounter
• The result sees the Buccaneers go to the top of group B, a week after stumbling against Al Ittihad in Libya

Mzwandile Mabelesa put Leopards into an early lead in the fifth minute after it deflected off Pirates defender Happy Jele. The match had hardly settled when the 'home' team went 2-0 up three minutes later thanks to South African striker Thabiso Mokenkoane's header from a header after a pin-point cross from Mancoba Maseko.

This appeared to kickstart the lacklustre Buccaneers into life as Machawe Dlamini unfortunately redirected an awkward Kabelo Dlamini cross past his own goalkeeper into the back of the net to make it 2-1.

The red-hot Bandile Shandu then equalised for Pirates via a hit from close range after Deon Hotto needled through a quality pass past the Leopards defence.

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This left them reeling, and the invigorated Kwame Peprah took advantage in flooring the Swati side with a header thanks to another high quality cross from Hotto, making the score 3-2 right on halftime.

The floodgates were open at this point, as captain Happy Jele headed in the Sea Robbers' fourth goal from the assist king Hotto's freekick. With Leopards now in tatters, Kabelo Dlamini joined in on the goal feast to make the score 5-3 with a super strike after a good run.

Coming in from the bench, Terrence Dzvukamanja completed the rout with a finish in the bottom right corner with 10 minutes left after a pass from Peprah which left the Leopards defence completely flatfooted.

Orlando Pirates' Bandile Shandu stirs football world with CAF Confed Cup performance against Al Ittihad

Orlando Pirates might have lost 3-2 to Al-Ittihad Tripoli in the CAF Confederations Cup, but midfielder Bandile Shandu was a big winner despite the defeat.

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As reported on Sports Brief, Shandu enhanced his already rising reputation last night with a brace of goals for the Buccaneers in a see-sawing battle.

This sees him move up to three goals scored in the competition thus far.