Cape Town – Bidvest Wits spectacularly turned the match on its head with a remarkable two-goal blitz in extra-time to run out 3-1 winners against SuperSport United in their MTN8 quarterfinal clash at the Bidvest Stadium, Johannesburg, on Tuesday night.
With scores locked at 1-all at the end of the regulation 90 minutes’ play, Wits scored twice in quick succession with goals by Daine Klate and Henrico Botes in the first period of extra time.
The Gordon Igesund-coached SuperSport were never able to recover from this double setback and their 2015 MTN8 challenge came to an abrupt end.
Gavin Hunt’s Wits will now progress to the semifinal round.
Both teams finished the match with 10 players after there were second-half red cards for Buhle Mkhwanazi (Wits) and Kingston Nkhatha (SuperSport).
The ‘Clever Boys’ were off to an eventful start as they broke strongly down the right flank and the back-peddling ‘Matsatsantsa’ defenders were unable to check the foray. Once the sortie neared the corner flag, Henrico Botes threaded the ball through the hapless United defence and Sibusiso Vilakazi ran in unchallenged to sidefoot home past the unsighted ‘keeper Ronwen Williams in the second minute (1-0).
On the way to the back of the net, the ball brushed the leg of SuperSport defender Michael Morton to further complicate matters for his ‘keeper.
The Wits midfield managed to wrest the initiative for long periods in the first half and they did enough to deserve a further increase but they failed to rise to the challenge in the striking zone where their efforts were mostly wayward.
SuperSport were not as cohesive in their approach work, but they had chances to open their scoring in the match when there were lapses of concentration in the opposition defence.
A feature of the first half was the high number of fouls committed by both teams, but only Botes and Wits’ Morné Nel were issued with yellow cards before halftime dawned with Wits’ slender 1-0 lead intact.
Wits made all the early second-half running but it was SuperSport who were showing steady improvement and they drew first blood after the break. A 55th minute upfield kick from Dove Wome who had made all the running out wide on the right flank proved Wits’ undoing. His kick into the Wits penalty area was headed home by New Zealander Jeremy Brockie who had sneaked in between two central defenders (1-1).
Wits tried hard to pick up their game afterwards and SuperSport’s defence was at pains to avert further damage. However, they suffered a setback in the 78th minute when Buhle Mkhwanazi was shown a red card for a second bookable offence.
In the remaining 12 minutes plus three minutes of added injury time SuperSport were unable to exploit their numerical advantage, which strangely ended in the 90th minute when Kingston Nkhatha was red- carded after two offences in as many minutes.
Nkhatha was a 69th minute substitute for Wome.
There were also second-half yellow cards for SuperSport trio Michael Boxall, Bongani Khumalo and Lebogang Manyama.
On Wits’side, Mkhwanazi’s two cards in the space of five minutes saw him retire to the dressing room for an early shower in the 78the minute.
In extra-time, Wits put the final result beyond doubt with a two-goal effort to deliver the knock-out blow on SuperSport.
The MTN8 action continues on Wednesday when Mamelodi Sundowns face Bloemfontein Celtic while Kaizer Chiefs take on Maritzburg United.
The 2015 champions will pocket a cool R8-million, with positions 2-8 each netting R800 000 for a grand total of R13.6-million. - ANA