Super-sub Gabadinho Mhango was the man of the hour as he popped up at the death to fire Orlando Pirates to a dramatic 1-0 victory over Maritzburg United at Lucas Moripe Stadium on Wednesday evening.

The first half proved to be a closely contested affair with goalscoring chances at a premium for both teams.

Pirates started brightly and should have grabbed the lead inside the opening two minutes of play. However, the chance came to nothing as Thembinkosi Lorch fired high and wide after being teed up by Ben Motshwari from the byline.

Arrows laboured to create their first noteworthy chance and it finally arrived on 19 minutes, Thabiso Kutumela seeing his shot from a tight angle blocked away for a corner by the Pirates defence.

And it was more of the same after the cooling break on 25 minutes, with Maritzburg looking threatening without managing to find a breakthrough in the final third, while Pirates were seemingly willing to bide their time as they prodded and probed the United defence.

However, Pirates finished the half on the front foot after twice going close to breaking the deadlock.

Lorch's right-footed half-volley on 42 minutes was kept out by Richard Ofori in the Maritzburg goal, before Vincent Pule struck the woodwork with a stinging shot in injury-time.

With the match finely poised at 0-0, it was Maritzburg who lodged the first noteworthy chance of the second stanza, forward Bongokuhle Hlongwane seeing his curling effort turned away from danger by Bucs gloveman Wayne Sandilands just before the hour mark.

The two opposing coaches opted to shake things up after the second-half cooling break, making a string of substitutions in anticipation of a tough final spell.

And, just when it looked like the two teams would be forced to settle for a share of the spoils, Pirates hit Maritzburg with a sucker punch in the first minute of injury time.

Substitute Mhango latched onto a pass from Kabelo Dlamini before rifling a shot past Ofori and into the back of the net.

- TEAMtalk media