They had a dream start to life in the top-flight, but Cape Town City’s losing streak stretched to two on Wednesday when they lost 2-0 to Golden Arrows.
Eric Tinkler’s City began brightly in the Premiership when they beat Polokwane City 2-0 on the opening day of action, and they followed it up with a spirited 1-0 victory over Kaizer Chiefs in the MTN8 quarter-final at the Cape Town Stadium.
But following the international break, things have become bumpy for John Comitis’ new outfit as they dispatched 3-0 by Wits in the first leg of the MTN8 semi-final in Johannesburg on Saturday, and experienced more misery in KwaZulu-Natal on Wednesday night.
A 39th-minute goal by Arrows midfielder Vuyani Ntanga got the ball rolling for the home side at the Princess Magogo Stadium in KwaMashu. According to the Golden Arrows Twitter feed, Lehlohonolo Nonyane crossed the ball into the box, where Ntanga finished.
City piled on the pressure and had a number of opportunities to get the equaliser, but were denied by the likes of Arrows defender Nkanyiso Mngwengwe and goalkeeper Maximilian Mbaeva.
The Cape side’s own shot-stopper, Shu-aib Walters, also made several saves to keep the score down to just one goal for most of the match, but ultimately they were unable to take advantage of their chances.
Then late into stoppage time, Arrows defender Wayde Jooste finally beat Walters to hand the KZN side their first win in the league after they lost their opener 3-1 to Orlando Pirates last month.
Meanwhile, at the FNB Stadium, Kaizer Chiefs came from a goal behind to grab a share of the spoils with Platinum Stars in a 1-1 draw.
Malawian Robert Ng’ambi scored a controversial goal for Stars with a shot from the edge of the box in the 21st minute, with TV replays showing that the ball hadn’t crossed the line after Chiefs goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune got a crucial touch to deflect it to the underside of the crossbar.
But the match officials awarded the goal, and Amakhosi were forced to chase the game. The breakthrough eventually came in the 72nd minute as poor defending from Stars saw Hendrick Ekstein scramble the ball into the back of the net via a deflection.
There were no goals in the three other games on the night, with defending champions Mamelodi Sundowns earning an away point against Maritzburg United, while SuperSport United couldn’t break down Chippa United’s defence either.
In a Free State derby, Free State Stars and Bloemfontein Celtic couldn’t be separated.
@ashfak.mohamed
Independent Media