Sekhukhune United claimed a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Cape Town City FC at a chilly Athlone Stadium on Wednesday evening.
Sekhukhune took the lead with just five minutes gone through their talisman Chibuike Ohizu, who headed home Elias Mokwana’s cross.
City responded with efforts that went close to cancelling out the deficit from Marc van Heerden and Darwin Gonzales.
Apart from Ohizu’s strike, it was a relatively cagey encounter. City’s Ghanaian star Brice Ambina sought to bring the match to life and his effort from distance clipped the top of the crossbar.
Babina Noko began to take control of the possession but were not making any real inroads and had to go into half-time content with their one-goal lead.
FULL TIME | Just not our day today 🔵
— Cape Town City FC (@CapeTownCityFC) August 23, 2023
Thank you to our fans. We keep going 👊 pic.twitter.com/qdl8PyRya8
In the second half, Eric Tinkler’s men were the ones who began to get on the ball more and their best chance of the match up to that point fell to Jaedin Rhodes in the 47th minute but he headed wide at the back post from Darwin Gonzales’ inswinger, with the Venezuelan almost returning the favour to Rhodes who had set him up earlier in the encounter.
The Citizens made a double change on the hour mark. Jó Paciência replaced Khanyisa Mayo, while Relebogile Mokhuoane replaced Luphumlo Sifumba. This, just after City’s veteran and club captain right-back Thamsanqa Mkhize’s header from the right side of the box was close, but missed to the right from Ambina’s delivery.
The visitors were holding strong in hte icey conditions and had goalscorer Ohizu stretchered off injured. The lead was almost doubled after a quick counter attack against the run of play when Vilakazi found himself in acres of space before going for goal, but his effort was off target.
It had been a stubborn and resilient defensive performance from Sekhukhune throughout and they did not suffer too many hiccups in preserving the lead as they went on to claim their second win of the season.
