CAPE TOWN - There may not have been spectators in the stands for the first Western Cape football derby of the 2020-21 season, but both Cape Town City and Stellenbosch FC showed all the guts and tenacity associated with this plum fixture at the Danie Craven Stadium on Tuesday evening.
Ultimately, though, it was the superior class of the more experienced City that shone through as the Citizens claimed a 2-1 victory courtesy of goals from Thabo Nodada and Craig Martin.
Nathan Sinkala managed a consolation goal for the home side, but it was too late to push for a share of the points.
"It is disappointing obviously," said Stellenbosch FC coach Steve Barker. "They started on the front foot we were not aggressive enough we allowed them too much space. Saying that, we looked more likely to score than them, but then we conceded from outside the box and then a soft second goal.“
"That obviously changed the complexion of the game because we now chasing the game. But I do think our response in the second half was really good. We should though have a found a goal on the first 20-25 minutes in the second half when we were dominant to give us more time to get the second goal. I feel if we had got one, it would have changed the complexion of the game. But credit to them they held out. "
City were certainly the dominant team in the opening stanza. The visitors controlled the midfield exchanges and were able to find their passing range early on with the City midfielders movement off the ball particularly good.
This resulted in slick passing that had Stellenbosch chasing shadows initially. The home team's failure to close down City's engine room came back to haunt them when Nodada found himself with acres of space of the edge of the Stellies box and the KES old boy had enough time to unleash a pin-point curler beyond the outstretched arms of Lee Langeveldt in the Stellenbosch goal.
Langeveldt only had himself to blame for City's second goal though as the burly keeper initially had his clearance kick charged down. From the resultant throw-in City moved the ball quickly once again before crossing the ball into the five-yard area.
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Langeveldt was slow to react off his line, but not so Craig Martin with the City winger showing off a killer-instinct in front of goal to get ahead of the keeper and tap it into an empty net.
Stellenbosch fought back valiantly after the interval, but City had done enough to propel them into third position in the PSL table.
"We deserve to win this game. It was a game of two phases because first half we scored two goals and used all the right spaces in terms of how we instructed the team," Riekerink said.
"They changed a little bit of structure of their team before halftime and they put a lot of pressure on us in the second half. There were enough opportunities for us to counter but we were a little bit sloppy with the last ball because then the game could have been lockdowned earlier.
"But I think Stellenbosch played a good second half, and at that moment we got into a bit of a fighting game and I must give them my team a big compliment for the attitude and the way they expressed themselves because it was needed and they did it."
@ZaahierAdams