Amakhosi, Swallows dish up boring draw
With Swallows FC having established themselves as the undisputed draw kings of the Premier Soccer League (PSL), and Kaizer Chiefs struggling to win, a 1-1 stalemate on Wednesday should not have come as a surprise.
Kagiso Malinga’s eighthminute strike in the Soweto derby at FNB Stadium was cancelled out by Leonardo Castro’s 14th-minute opener in a lively start to an entertaining opening half.
Both teams’ cancel culture only increased in a second half where they spent most of the time working hard to negate the others’ strengths.
For Chiefs, the effort to notch wins in their final matches continued to hit a wall, and now they have two games to claw out of the bottom half of the log. The wall was a hard-working, fifthplaced Birds, who remarkably have still only lost one game. They seem happy to ride out the campaign preserving their place in the top eight.
Brandon Truter’s Swallows equalled the most draws in a PSL season, with 17. They have shared the spoils in 13 of their last 15 games.
Swallows seem assured of the top half, unlike the once mighty Chiefs. Amakhosi and their coach, Gavin Hunt, somewhat embarrassingly have just two wins from 15 matches, and the bottom half — and perhaps a worse finish than their previous two ninth positions — beckons. ● Maritzburg United’s great escape is on. The Team of Choice pulled off a 3-2 Premier Soccer League win over Golden Arrows to get out of the relegation zone and enhance their chances of avoiding automatic relegation or the play-offs.
With this win, Maritzburg moved to 12th spot and they have a game in hand over Stellenbosch, Chippa United and Black Leopards, who are below them on the table.
There is no time for the players and coach Ernst Middendorp to dwell on this vital victory over third-placed Arrows as they have a trip to Polokwane to take on Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila (TTM) on Saturday.
Arrows, who missed out on an opportunity to pull away from fourth-placed Orlando Pirates, have time to work on their deficiencies as they only return to league action against TS Galaxy on Wednesday at home.
Maritzburg opened the scoring after 15 minutes through a powerful shot by Tebogo Tlolane that gave Arrows goalkeeper Sifiso Mlungwana no chance.
Maritzburg increased their lead through their live wire Kutumela when he placed his low shot into an empty net after 57 minutes for his 12th goal of the season.
A minute later, Michael Gumede pulled one back for Arrows when he sneaked between pedestrian Maritzburg defenders Clayton Daniels and Travis Graham.
Maritzburg further increased their lead through Bongokuhle Hlongwane, who rifled home a shot past Mlungwana.
There was drama in the closing stages when referee Thando Ndzandzeka pointed to the spot after Nazeer Allie handled in the box for Nduduzo Sibiya to beat Marcel Engelhardt.
● SuperSport United ended their 10-match winless run after edging Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila 1-0, with Bradley Grobler getting the all-important goal.
● Chippa United and Black Leopards played to a goalless draw that left Leopards rooted to the bottom of the log and Chippa moved to third last.
● Bloemfontein Celtic and Cape Town City also failed to score, leaving City in seventh place while Celtic retained their 11th spot.