AmaZulu miss chance to move up

Published Feb 13, 2013

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Durban - AmaZulu missed the chance to move off the bottom of the Premiership table after they were held to a goalless draw against Maritzburg United at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Tuesday.

The hosts dominated the first half and were thrice denied by visiting goalkeeper Shuaib Walters.

It meant that Craig Rosslee’s team remain bottom of the log, on the same number of points as Chippa United, but with a worse goal difference after extending their winless run to eight games.

The Team of Choice stayed in fifth place after a fifth game without victory.

AmaZulu made the brighter start in Durban and looked particularly threatening when the lively Thokozani Mshengu had the ball at his feet.

The left winger did provide an early pass for Ayanda Dlamini to lash in, although the effort was ruled off-side.

At the other end, Heinrich Isaacks had the first chance for United when he was played in on the right, only to lift the ball over the top.

Goodman Dlamini responded for Usuthu when he was played into space on the edge of the box by Mshengu, but again the finish was off target.

Goodman Dlamini then produced the first save of the game after 22 minutes when he combined excellently with Mshengu again, before forcing Walters to dive low to his right and turn the ball away to safety.

There was more pressure forthcoming on the United defence with Ayanda Dlamini having a strong penalty claim turned down after a last-ditch Mario Booysen tackle flattened the striker - referee Phillip Tinyani showed no interest in the appeals.

Mshengu was again at the heart of an AmaZulu attack on the half-hour mark when Mshengu raced down the left and set up Khumalo, who forced Walters to dive to his right and push the ball away for a corner.

Before the interval Ayanda Dlamini forced Walters into a third sprawling save when his rising effort had to be tipped over as United were fortunate to go into the break level pegging.

After the restart, the visitors threw some early caution to the wind and were almost rewarded when Booysen headed a long ball across the face of goal for Byrone Hendricks, who took too long to get his two-yard shot away as the chance went begging.

With 20 minutes to go, Ayanda Dlamini had one of the best openings of the game when Njabulo Manqana’s defence-splitting pass picked him out on the left, but the striker’s cross-goal attempt was straight at Walters.

That proved the last real chance as the match ended in a stalemate. - Sapa

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