AFRICAN ALL-STAR OF APRIL: Mohau Nkota

In an Orlando Pirates season that has seen them play great football and win silverware, one of the most important positives has been the rise of Mohau Nkota.

While the 20-year-old from Kimberley has regularly featured in the Betway Premiership, it’s his performances in the CAF Champions League that have particularly caught the eye.

Seeing how assured he was in the knockout stages makes it hard to believe that he only broke into the Buccaneers first team this season.

Nkota showed how he could handle the big occasions at the start of April in the CAF Champions League semifinal first leg away to MC Alger.

In a game where no-one managed to score in an hour, Nkota grabbed a goal within five minutes of coming off the bench.

With 25 minutes left, he managed to get in behind the defence where Relebohile Mofokeng could pick him out. He was then able to get into position to finish without touching the ball. Then he calmly slotted it into the corner for a one-touch finish to set the team and fans back home into raptures.

It proved to be the only goal of the game. For the rest of the month, Nkota was selected in the starting 11.

BACK TO LEAGUE FOOTBALL

After the euphoria of an away win in North Africa, it was back to league football. It could be hard to find a starker contrast within Africa than the national stadium in Algiers and the old Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane. That was the adjustment the team had to make.

Nkota played his part in a hard-fought 1-0 win – a scoreline that would crop up a few times for the Buccaneers in April.

With the satisfaction of three more league points in the bag, it was time to face MC Alger in front of their home crowd this time to finish and reach the CAF Champions League semifinals.

Hanging on to a 1-0 lead usually entails holding out until the 90th minute. For Pirates, they had to hold on to their single-goal lead up until the 180th minute to keep it goalless in the second leg.

Playing upfront, Mohau worked hard on a night that goals weren’t expected of him. The game finished goalless and Pirates were in the semifinals for the first time since 2013 – when Nkota was eight years old.

Attention then shifted from a continental cup to a local one as Pirates hosted Marumo Gallants the Nedbank Cup semifinals.

Makota’s position was out on the right hand side where he kept the defenders occupied for most of the game. Kamelo Dlamini found a winner and Pirates had chalked off another hard-fought win to reach their third successive Nedbank Cup final.

CAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

After that it was back to the CAF Champions League for the visit of Pyramids. Nkota was part of an attack which was full of intent, but just couldn’t break down the opposition defence.

The game ended goalless to set up a nervy second leg in Cairo.

The Pirates dream of a second star ended that night in a 3-2 loss, Nkota provided a goal that was worthy of winning any game.

With the game evenly poised at 1-1 early in the second half, Nkota went on a run from a counter-attack and put in a through ball that got blocked. It rebounded back to him well outside the penalty area where he let fly with a spectacular left-footed shot to give Pirates the lead.

In a month that ended on a disappointing note, the rise of Mohau Nkota is reassuring the Buccaneers fans that he will give them many occasions to celebrate in the future.