Cape Town City and Maritzburg United toiled to a goalless draw under freezing, sub-zero conditions at the Athlone Stadium in the Mother City on Tuesday night.
Fans who attended the match should be commended for braving the chilly conditions – at least they deserved a goal. But it was not to be.
Maritzburg came into the match after a goalless draw against Swallows FC last Friday. Before Swallows, they were walloped 3-0 by Kaizer Chiefs and have not been firing under new coach John Maduka. They are now stuck onto position 13 on the log with four points.
Uncharacteristic of them, City lost their first three opening matches and were languishing at the bottom of the PSL table. They will be happy with their first points on Tuesday night. They have been missing some of their key players at this crucial, early stages of the season.
Former Bafana Bafana goalkeeper Darren Keet was forced to step up into the fray after City’s Hugo Marques, who was the PSL goalkeeper of the Season, left the club and went back home to Portugal after explaining that he needed to attend to some family and personal issues. Marques kept 17 clean sheets in all competitions last year and his departure is a worry for coach Eric Tinkler.
Terrance Mashego was also absent and coach Tinkler said that Bafana left back should be back in a couple of weeks. Skipper Thami Mkhize made a welcome return after missing out due to injury. Mkhize’s return added steel to the leaky City defence that resulted in a shaky start by the Citizens.
City created most of the scoring chances in the first half and were also denied a penalty after United’s Tawanda Macheke handled the ball inside his penalty box. City continued to fight but found goalkeeper King Ndlovu in an uncompromising mood. Ndlovu pulled another brilliant save with his fingertips to thwart Khanyisile Mayo’s goal bound header.
The visitors did not trouble Keet for most parts of the match but they finished stronger when Friday Samu’s header shaved the upright in the second stanza. Towards the end, Samu had a few more bites on the cherry but he was off-target, his teammates too.
City’s next match will be against Stellenbosch FC on Saturday while United will face Chippa United on the same day.
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