Orlando Pirates ended their seven match winless streak when they clobbered Bloemfontein Celtic 3-1 at the Orlando Stadium on Sunday to get their Absa Premiership season back on track.

Bucs' win ended a mini slump with an impressive win despite being without their midfield talisman Teko Modise who, like the club, has been off form and was rested by coach Ruud Krol for this clash.

Phenyo Mongalo proved to be a decent replacement for Modise in the left side of midfield and capped a great day by setting up the third goal.

Pirates showed a lot more initiative and fire in the opening half and more than deserved their 1-0 lead at the break.

Celtic were content to sit back and soak up the pressure and that ploy backfired when Katlego Mashego slotted home a well-taken goal in the 34th minute after he latched onto a Thulasizwe Mbuyane pass which split the Celtic defence. The Bucs striker coolly placed the ball past the outstretched arms of keeper Patrick Tignyemb.

Earlier in the 10th minute, Tignyemb had done well to palm away a 20 metre free kick from Mashego as Bucs started to pile on the pressure.

While Bucs fans were winning the battle on the field, Celtic's loyal fans who streamed into the stadium in their thousands were out-singing their Pirates counterparts until Mashego's goal silenced them.

Bucs could have had another two goals late in the half but were denied by some fine goalkeeping from Tignyemb. The Cameroon born keeper pulled off two tremendous saves from Josephy Kamwendo and Dennis Masina in the 44th and 45th minutes respectively to keep his side in the game at halftime.

Celtic coach Owen da Gama decided to replace defender Mokete Tsotetsi with striker Moses Spandeel in the 41st minute to give Phunya Sele-Sele more attacking options.

Celtic were obviously told by Da Gama at the break to attack in the second half and it took a brilliant reflex save from Bucs Bafana Bafana international keeper Moeneeb Josephs to deny Spandeel an equaliser four minutes into the second half. Josephs showed his class by fisting the powerfully struck Spandeel rocket for a corner.

Bucs came close in the 57th minute to doubling their lead when Lucas Thwala managed to direct a pass from Phenyo Mongala goalwards but again the wide awake Tignyemb managed to deal with the danger.

Three minutes later, Masina should have scored after collecting another telling cross from Mongala but the Swaziland international made a mess of the cross and was dispossessed before getting a shot on target.

But a minute later, Tignyemb did well to palm Mashego's free kick for a corner. But the Cameroon keeper could not prevent Thwala from hammering home Bucs second goal from the resultant corner and setting up Bucs with their first league win in eight matches.

The Pirates fans finally found their voices and got behind their team. But they were soon silenced when former Buccaneer starlet Excellent Walaza reduced the deficit to 2-1 in the 72nd minute.

Bucs hit back two minutes later when they took advantage of poor defending when Mongalo ended a fine afternoon by laying on the ball to Mashego who scored one of the easiest goals of his career with a simple tap in from close range to put the game beyond Celtic.

But the day was marred when Josephs and his captain Lucky Lekgwathi got into a shoving match 10 minutes from the end when Josephs wanted to make a point to the referee but Lekgwathi pushed him away.

The two appeared to exchange heated words as Josephs pushed his captain and tempers appeared to flare. But, fortunately for Bucs, it was a case of handbags being thrown and no danger to the players or the team's morale.

Happy Jele should have made it 4-1 in the 84th minute but the Pirates defender blasted over the crossbar from close range.