Advantage Cape Town Spurs.
Spurs have given themselves a significant advantage in the Premier Soccer League (PSL) promotion play-offs with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Maritzburg United at Athlone Stadium on Saturday.
With this win, that was secured through a first-half goal by 34-year-old midfielder Michael Morton, Spurs are on top of the mini play-offs table with six points from two matches.
They are three points ahead of Maritzburg and six ahead of bottom-of-the-table Casric Stars with all three teams having played two matches in this race for promotion to the DStv Premiership.
Spurs, who agonisingly missed out on automatic promotion to the PSL on goal difference to Polokwane City, are fighting to return to the big time since they were relegated in 2018 as Ajax Cape Town.
Spurs are back in action on Wednesday against winless Casric and a win in that match will significantly enhance their chances of returning to the top table as they will have nine points with one match remaining.
Maritzburg, who earned a place in these play-offs after they finished second from the bottom at the end of the PSL campaign, will also be looking to return back to winning ways in their next match against Casric.
Maritzburg coach Fadlu Davids started the match with the strongest possible team that boasted the experience of Mogamad de Goede who marshalled the defence with Bonginkosi Makume.
In the midfield, Davids put his faith in Travis Graham and Brandon Theron to solidify things and to get the much-needed goals he relied on from the likes of Rowan Human, Amadou Soukouna and Jose Meza.
It was the same with Spurs coach Shaun Bartlett who started with the vast experience of Nazeer Ali, Clayton Daniels, Morne Nel, Ashley Cupido and Michael Morton.
There was nothing much to write home about during the opening exchanges with both teams testing each other but with little goalscoring opportunities that left the goalkeepers as spectators until the opener.
Michael Morton opened the scoring for Spurs after 16 minutes when he took advantage of a misjudgement by Maritzburg goalkeeper Renaldo Leaner.
Leaner went out of his line but failed to connect with a well-taken cross from Nazeer Allie that fell in the path of unmarked Morton who put the ball in the net.
Maritzburg upped their tempo with Human, Soukouna and Meza on the forefront of their attacks but they could not find their way past the Spurs defence led by Daniels.
For most of the second half, Spurs were clearly the better side in terms of possession and goal attempts but they were led down by poor finishing.
Spurs should have increased their lead after 79 minutes but attacker Ashley Cupido’s close range shot bounced off the uptight for safety and three minutes from time substitute striker Lubuyo Phewa was denied by Leaner.
Deep in jury time Maritzburg shouted for a penalty after Kwane Peprah went down after a tackle by Allie but referee Thando Ndzandzeka waved play on to avoid a dramatic finish.
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