Maritzburg United suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat against Cape Town Spurs in their Premier Soccer League promotion/relegation play-offs at the Athlone Stadium on Saturday.
Both sides went into the game level on three points after beating Casric Stars, with Maritzburg on top of the mini table with a better goal difference.
Spurs struck early into the game when goalkeeper Renaldo Leaner made a schoolboy error, after he failed to handle the ball, which fell into the path veteran midfielder Michael Morton, who made no mistake and tapped in the ball into the open net 16 minutes into the game.
The Team of Choice tried to get back into the game by creating several goal scoring opportunities, but the home side were able to keep them at bay and went into half time with the one goal advantage.
It was end-to-end stuff in the second half, as both teams took the game to each other. United coach Fadlu Davids made some quick substitutions, which saw Ali Meza and Tumelo Njoti make way for Wayde Jooste and Karim Kimvuidi.
The Urban Warriors could have put the game to bed in the 80th minute, but the Motsepe Foundation Championship top goal scorer Ashley Cupido could only ram his shot against the upright.
The visitors tried to get an equalizer in the dying stages of the game, but it was not enough as Spurs are now in the driving seat and sit on top of the log with six points.
Coach Shaun Bartlett and his Spurs side will look to do a double against Casric when they welcome them at the Athlone Stadium on Wednesday, while Davids and his troops will have to respond with a victory against Casric at the Solomon Mahlangu Stadium next week Saturday.
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