Betway Premiership: Orlando Pirates Down Chippa to Move Top of PSL Standings

by Devesh Jaganath

image Betway Premiership: Orlando Pirates Down Chippa to Move Top of PSL Standings
Defending PSL champions Orlando Pirates wrapped up Matchday 3 with a commanding 3-0 victory over Chippa United to move to the top of the Betway Premiership standings. The Bucs are now one of only five teams still unbeaten in the South African top flight after the first three games.
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Bucs Maintain Slender Advantage Over AmaKhosi in PSL

Orlando Pirates moved to the summit of the 2026-27 Betway Premiership and confirmed our PSL predictions by cruising to a commanding 3-0 victory over Chippa United at Hollywoodbets Kings Park Stadium in Durban on Sunday afternoon. 

The Buccaneers imposed their dominance on the match from the opening exchanges, but Chippa held firm leading up to the interval thanks to Stanley Nwabali, who denied South African international Oswin Appollis several presentable opportunities.

However, the defending league champions stepped up their attacking pressure early in the second half and were rewarded in the 60th minute when Ghampani Lungu converted Patrick Maswanganyi’s pass with a fierce strike at the near post. 

The visitors then doubled their lead with a towering header from Player of the Match Lebone Seema!

Pirates added a third late on after Daniel Msendami punished a defensive blunder in the 87th minute, stealing possession from the last defender and keeping his composure to slot his effort past Nwabali to secure the three points. 

The victory lifted the Bucs above rivals Kaizer Chiefs and into the top spot after three matches, with a superior goal difference now separating the Soweto giants. 

Ouaddou Pinpoints Maswanganyi As Mofokeng Replacement

After an impressive showing in Durban, which included opening the scoring for his side, Orlando Pirates head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou revealed that he expects Patrick ‘Tito’ Maswanganyi to play a massive role following the departure of Relebohile Mofokeng. 

The departure of Mofokeng to Belgian club Royale Union Saint-Gilloise has left a significant creative hole in the Bucs’ attack, given that the 21-year-old had established himself as one of the team’s key attacking outlets last season. After their victory over Chippa, Ouaddou said: 

“Everybody who understands football, who knows football, can see a fantastic quality on Tito. You see that he can help the team and he can be really the link between the defenders and the strikers. Not only that, he's able to feed in the last third, but he's somebody who is able to score as well.”

Although Ouaddou has been impressed by the midfielder’s performance through pre-season and the early stages of the league campaign, he also emphasised that maintaining that level of consistency will be key for Maswanganyi to fill the void left by Mofokeng.