Durban - A first half strike from Lesedi Kapinga earned Dinaledi FC third place in the inaugural DSTV Compact Cup as they completed a 1-0 win over Amabutho at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg.
Overall, the flow of the game throughout was lethargic. The players appeared to have been just wanting to get the game over with so that they could return their focus onto completing the league season with their respective clubs in two weeks-time.
Kapiinga opened the scoring in the third minute with a stunner from range. He caught Sifiso Mlungwana off his line and struck a shot with decisiveness that gave the Amabutho goalkeeper no chance of saving.
Shortly afterwards Jamie Webber attempted to double the lead for his side by chipping Mlungwana. However, the 24-year-old failed to sufficiently wrap his foot around the ball which led to it going too high.
Lesedi Kapinga 😱😱
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) January 29, 2022
Not even four minutes on the clock and Dinaledi take the lead with a scorcher 🚀
📺 Stream live: https://t.co/0BMWdeEYT3
📲 Cheer your team: https://t.co/1lnZMrHWPc #DStvCompactCup pic.twitter.com/QFgApcqZux
After being afforded space by the Dinaledi defence, unsettled AmaZulu man Siyethemba Sithebe made the most of his opportunity, hitting a snapshot towards goal. However, his accuracy was off the mark as his effort sailed out of play.
Dinaledi captain Sello Motsepe found himself on the end of a sideward through ball in the 25th minute but skied his shot into the stands.
After the half-hour mark, Keegan Ritchie was found on the left flank and found Leletu Skelem with a cross. However, the effort from the latter was completely miscued.
Ritchie appeared to be getting frustrated due to his team’s inability to penetrate the Dinaledi defence towards the latter part of the first half. He became the first player to be booked by referee Akhona Makalima following a miscued challenge on Katlego Otladisa near the 40th minute.
Amabutho goalkeeper Mlungwana showed why he attracted so much praise last season in goal for Arrows by pulling off an attractive diving save to deny Gaston Sirino’s clean strike.
Amabutho struggled to find fluency in their game in the final third throughout the game. It took them an hour to finally get their first shot at goal but Dinaledi goalkeeper Reyaad Pieterse was present to deny them though he would have been in a lot of pain as the shot struck his stomach.
Pieterse was lucky to have escaped without giving a penalty in second half stoppage time as he was guilty of fouling Samukelo Mzolo in the box. However, neither referee Makalima nor the assistant referee saw the infringement.
@EshlinV