DURBAN – Maritzburg United produced their greatest ever performance when they hammered Chippa United 5-1 at Harry Gwala Stadium on Saturday evening.
The Team of Choice’s complete performance saw them open up a health gap at the bottom of the table, while they also leapfrogged Chippa and Bloemfontein Celtic to move into 12th place.
Maloisane Mokhele opened the scoring for the Port Elizabeth club before a quick brace by Thabiso Kutumela put the home team in front before half time in the KwaZulu-Natal capital.
Bongukuhl Hlongwane scored a third for Ernst Middendorp’s men five minutes into the second half, while Tebogo Tlolane and Jose Ali Meza added the fourth and fifth towards the end of the game.
In the day’s other game, Baroka FC frustrated Cape Town City by holding them to a 0-0 stalemate at the Cape Town Stadium.
Though City will feel that they really should have won this game against the unpredictable Bakgaga, they were lucky after Evidence Makgopa missed what has to be the most embarrassing miss of this season to prevent them from conceding.
City looked vulnerable whenever their defence was penetrated and came close to conceding again in the 71st minute as Kamatuka put his header just wide from a cross.
The City defence which has been struggling at times this season was once again caught napping before Joslin Kamatuka provided a cross towards him which required a simple tap in. The 20-year-old Makgopa who has been Baroka’s best finisher this season with five goals missed what was a sitter.
Despite dominating possession, the Western Cape side were unable to find the back of the net. In a surprise decision, Cape Town City opted to not start with Bradley Ralani who has been one of their best players this season with Fagrie Lakay leading the line.
The decision from Jan Olde Riekerink to not start the experienced campaigner in Ralani may have proven costly as his side struggled to successfully penetrate the defence of the away side.
City did have a shot as early as the second minute as Aubrey Ngoma whipped in a ball into the path of captain Thamsanqa Mkhize, though his header was over the bar.
City’s Terrence Mashego produced a good run in the 15th minute and produced a decent shot with his weaker foot, though he failed to hit the target.
It is undoubtedly Baroka who would have left the game the happier of the two sides.
City’s frustrating run of form continues as they have now gone eight games in all competitions without picking up a win.
The last time that the Cape side claimed a victory was in a Nedbank Cup Round of 32 win over Bloemfontein Celtic in early February whilst the last time that they won a league game was in a 4-2 win against Golden Arrows in late January.
IOL Sport