Lamontville Golden Arrows defeated Polokwane City 1-0 extra-time of their 2019 Telkom Knockout Cup Round of 16 clash at the Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The narrow victory saw Abafana Bes’thende advance to the quarterfinals, while Rise and Shine bowed out of the tournament.
Rise and Shine pressed Abafana Bes’thende in the opening stages of the match as they searched for an early goal.
The visitors pushed for the opening goal with Puleng Tlolane and Mohammed Anas working hard upfront.
Arrows goalkeeper Edmore Sibanda was beaten just before the half-hour mark following an attack by the away side.
However, defender Gladwin Shitolo came to the hosts’ rescue as he cleared the ball off the goal-line.
The two teams attacked each other with the halftime break approaching, but they could not score and they were locked at 0-0 at the interval.
Polokwane suffered a blow a few minutes into the second-half as an injured Tlolane was replaced by Bongile Booi.
With his side struggling to create clear cut chances, Arrows head coach Steve Komphela introduced attacking midfielder Sibusiso Sibeko.
However, the visitors continued to attack and Sibanda had to make a brilliant one-handed save to deny Polokwane midfielder Wiseman Maluleke at the near-post.
It was end-to-end stuff in the closing stages of the match as Ntsako Makhubela hit the crossbar with a powerful shot.
Almost immediately at the other end, Anas watched on in disbelief as his goal-bound effort was well-saved by Sibanda in the closing stages of the match.
Ultimately the match ended in a 0-0 stalemate in regulation time and extra-time followed.
Sibeko did prove to be an inspired substitute as he was involved when Arrows broke the deadlock in the 101st minute.
The 24-year-old player took a shot which deflected off Polokwane defender Nicholas Motloung’s boot and past Polokwane keeper George Chigova to make it 1-0 to Arrows.
The goal was enough to hand Arrows a hard-fought 1-0 victory over a stubborn Polokwane side on the day.
Arrows (1) 1 (Motloung 101′)
Polokwane (0) 0
Arrows XI: Sibanda, S. Dube, Sibisi, Mathiane, Lunga, Makhubela (S.Parusnath 99′), Shitolo, Phiri, Mtshali (Venter 119′), M.Gumede (Sibeko 71′), Mutizwa.
Polokwane City XI: Chigova, Mvelase, Hlongwane, Nthatheni, Motloung, Manaka, Chauke (Phiri 72′), W.Maluleke, Tlolane (Booi 55′), Nku (Musona 101′), Anas,©
SOURCED FROM THE PSL WEBSITE.
