By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Premier Soccer League was engulfed in further chaos on Wednesday evening with the match between Cape Town City and Maritzburg United marred by drama prior to the kickoff.
Cape Town City were unable to provide their player registration cards due to their manager Moenier Davids’ car being allegedly broken into
According to the PSL regulations Rule 4.10 “in the absence of original cards, the principle of ‘no card, no play’ will apply. A player who takes the field not having provided an original registration card at the pre-match inspection will be ineligible. The sanction set out in this clause will be applied to the Player and Member Club together with any other sanction deemed appropriate by the Disciplinary Committee.”
The match at Cape Town Stadium though went ahead with City media liaison Julian Bailey confirming Maritzburg United are playing under protest.
Mduduzi Mdatsene’s early goal from a defensive error helped the Citizens lead 1-0 at the break, before Fagrie Lakay doubled the advantage four minutes after the restart.
Substitute Lelethu Skelem gave the home side hope with a well-taken strike 20 minutes from the end, but Tashreeq Morris headed in a key goal to restore the two-goal advantage with eight minutes to play.
And despite Bongokuhle Hlongwane pulling a goal back at the death, it came too late for the Team of Choice as they slipped to a seventh loss of the season – one that leaves them in 11th place, a spot behind City, who remained 10th three points clear but with three games in hand over their opponents.
In a free-flowing encounter in the Mother City, the home side were ahead after only 11 minutes when a horrendous error by Alfred Ndengane saw his weak and indecisive back pass towards goalkeeper Marcel Engelhardt intercepted by Mdatsene and fired into an empty goal.
Both sides then had further chances to score, with the best of those falling to Daylon Claasen, who could only strike over.
Mdatsene also fired over just on the half-hour, Lakay did everything right, including rounding the goalkeeper, only to shoot into the side netting and Morris headed over from the centre of the box.
After the break, the striker made amends, though, when he doubled City’s advantage.
Morris was the provider as he crossed from the right to the edge of the box where Lakay fired in low beyond Engelhardt.
Then came the fightback from the KwaZulu-Natal side. Replacement Lelethu Skelem was played in by a raking ball from midfield after 70 minutes and the forward controlled expertly, before thumping in.
There were then chances to level for the visitors that they wasted and they were made to pay when Morris was left unmarked in the middle to make it 3-1 with eight minutes to go.
Lakay’s Bafana teammate Bongokuhle Hlongwane then pulled one back for Maritzburg with three minutes left, but his goal proved to a mere consolation as City held on to record a 3-2 win.
The result left City and Maritzburg on 10th and 11th spots respectively on the league standings.
Meanwhile, TS Galaxy showed character when they came from behind to defeat Chippa United 3-1 at Mbombela Stadium in the first game of the day.
The victory elevated Galaxy to 12th place on the league standings, while a struggling Chippa side remained 15th on the log.