On July 18 the City squad arrived at the Peter Mokabe Stadium to a friendly welcome outside the ground, which had been filling up four hours ahead of kick off!

The party atmosphere at the stadium was to mark the 91st birthday of Nelson Mandela which was done with Djembi drums, horns, thousands of balloons and the worldïs loudest PA system stoking things up.

On the pitch however the City team failed to prove strong without the unavailable players like England under 21 stars Nedum Onuoha and Micah Richards and Brazilian internationals Robinho and Elano. They have all been given additional time to recover from summer games.

The game resulted in a 2-0 win for the Orlando Pirates.