Staff Reporter.
Cape Town City registered their first home win of the season in the DStv Premiership defeating Golden Arrows 4-3 on Saturday evening
The result sees the Cape and Durban sides in 11th and 10th places respectively, though City have played one game less.
City looked the more settled and fluent team from the early stages, with their first clear chance arriving on nine minutes when a good passing move culminated in Craig Martin stabbing a shot on target which was well saved by Arrows goalkeeper Max Mbaeva.
Citizens claimed the lead in 22 minutes, with Martin doing great work to occupy a couple of defenders before shifting the ball to the unmarked Fagrie Lakay, who swept home a right-footed shot for 1-0.
Just two minutes later the Cape side doubled their advantage: Thabo Nodada’s pass from midfield picked out the out-to-in run of overlapping right-back Thamsanqa Mkhize, who rounded Mbaeva, evaded a defender and then stroked the ball into an empty net for 2-0.
City took total control of the game with a third goal in the 39th minute, as Mduduzi Mdantsane took full advantage of a mistake from Mbaeva: the ‘keeper’s attempt to play a pass from the edge of his penalty area was intercepted by the midfielder, who then provided a classy chipped finish into an unguarded net.
Three goal down at the break, Arrows opted for a double change at the start of the second half, introducing Michael Gumede and Siphamandla Sabelo off the bench.
Yet it was not long until the score moved to 4-0, with a superb counter attack on 58 minutes seeing Lakay sprint free down the left before playing a perfectly-weighted square pass to find Martin, who fired home into the top corner to put the result beyond any doubt.
Arrows, to their credit, did not allow their heads to drop and pulled a goal back on 61 minutes: Pule Mmodi latched onto Sbonelo Cele’s low cross from the left and struck home from close range to reduce the deficit to 4-1.
The visitors got another goal on 81 minutes, as captain Nkosinathi Sibisi scored from a penalty – the spot kick was earned by Nqobeko Dlamini, who was clumsily fouled by City substitute Khanyisa Mayo.
Dlamini then set up a thrilling finale when he scored himself in the 87th, stabbing home a low, left-footed shot through a crowd of players after City had failed to deal with a cross from right-back Siyavuya Ndlovu but City clung on for the win.
Meanwhile Maritzburg United have moved up to eighth place on the DStv Premiership log after they defeated TS Galaxy 1-0 at the Harry Gwala Stadium on Saturday.