RUSTENBURG – Cape Town City picked up three valuable points away from home in beating Platinum Stars 1-0 at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium on Saturday night.
The Stars midfield had done well to bottle up City’s midfield creator Roland Putsche for much of the match.
But a superb run by the Austrian in the 81st minute allowed him to receive a return pass and place the ball past the home team’s goalkeeper Dino Visser.
The three points were of major value to title-chasing City after log-leaders Mamelodi Sundowns were beaten 3-2 by Polokwane City earlier in the day.
In a match of precious few goal-scoring chances, Stars’ best bet of breaching the City rearguard always seemed to be from a dead-ball situation, and the visiting team’s defence did well to blot out any potential strikes on goal from the boot of Malawian midfield kingpin Robert Ng’ambi.
Just as the Stars midfield was weary of Putsche’s raids on goal, they were equally alert to the potential dangers of midfield breaks by Lyle Lakay and Teko Modise.
When Stars did attack, too much of a workload was left on the shoulders of Bongi Ntuli, who truthfully looked like one of a few home team men who had the ability to put the ball in the back of the City net.
However, the City defence in front of goalkeeper Sage Stephens were seldom stretched.
City move to 27 points from 16 games, just a point behind log-leaders Sundowns, who have played one game fewer. The Cape side’s next league outing will be an away trip to Free State Stars next Saturday.
Roger de Sa’s charges remain on 15 points from 16 games and will face struggling Ajax Cape Town in the Mother City on Friday.