Leopards back in the big time

Black Leopards (1) 2 Bay United (0) 0

Black Leopards bamboozled Bay United to bounce back to the top flight of South African football yesterday.

Lidoda Duvha won promotion to the Absa Premiership with a convincing victory in the second leg of the National First Division playoff final in front of a vociferous Thohoyandou crowd. The first leg was goalless.

Goals on either side of half-time from Raymond Monama and Mongezi Bobe secured Leopards return to elite football following a two-season absence. Monama lashed a shot into the bottom corner after 10 minutes. Bobe punished a flat-footed defence to head home the insurance goal in the 56th minute.

Leopards had an avalanche of chances and were a better team for most of the match, but were wasteful in front of goal and should have been 4-0 within 16 minutes. Rodney Ramagalela hit the woodwork twice , while Khethokwakhe Masuku was denied by the Bay keeper.

Bay then had a goal disallowed when referee Daniel Bennett ruled there was a foul on the Leopards keeper.

Leopards will play their Premiership matches in Polokwane next season.