Stellenbosch marched on in the Carling Knockout after they beat Chippa United 2-1 at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in the round of 16 on Saturday afternoon.
Second-half goals from Andre de Jong and Kgaogelo Sekgota secured the win for Steve Barker’s side, although Menzi Ndwandwe gave the Chilli Boys hope when he halved the deficit with 25 minutes left on the clock.
However, the Gqeberha-based club failed to find a second goal and their poor record in cup competitions continued as they bowed out in the opening round once more.
Lloyd Kazapua was the busier of the two goalkeepers in the first half as he produced a string of saves to keep the visitors at bay, although Sage Stephens was first called into action on 14 minutes to deny Zuko Mdunyelwa from range.
Stellies soon began to carve out chances of their own as Devin Titus forced Kazapua to tip his shot from inside the 18-yard area behind for the corner in the 20th minute, while Iqraam Rayners also saw his long-range effort palmed over the crossbar on 24 minutes.
Rayners threatened again moments later when he got on the end of Sekgota’s cross, but could only steer his header straight at Kazapua.
Chippa held on though, and went into the halftime interval all-square thanks to the intervention of Kazapua. The Cape Winelands outfit were soon on the attack after the restart, however, with Rayners flashing a shot narrowly past the right post from distance in the 47th minute.
The deadlock was eventually broken two minutes later when Kazapua parried a long-range strike from Titus and De Jong reacted quickest to score on the rebound.
Rayners went close again seven minutes later as he lined up a shot from range that flew inches past the left post, but he instead turned provider on 58 minutes as he picked out Sekgota inside the box and the winger fired home into the bottom left corner of the net.
The hosts were finally stirred into action and Ayabulela Konqobe almost found an instant reply with a shot that sailed just to the right of the target on the hour mark before Justice Chabalala tested Stephens with a header from Goodman Mosele’s cross in the 62nd minute.
And they did manage to pull one back three minutes later when Ndwandwe curled his free-kick into the top left corner of the net to beat Stephens all ends up.
Ndwandwe nearly levelled matters with 20 minutes left to play as he glanced a header fractionally wide of the left post from close range, although the Maroons had chances to extend their lead in the closing stages, but Rayners wasn’t able to beat Kazapua from inside the area on 83 minutes and Titus drilled his shot wide of the near post from an angle on the right a minute later.
Chippa United (0) 1 (Ndwandwe 65′)
Stellenbosch (0) 2 (De Jong 49′, Sekgota 58′)
CHIPPA UNITED: L. Kazapua, Z. Mdunyelwa, R. Pietersen, J. Chabalala, A. Ntsabo, T. Lebitso, G. Mosele (A. Mbenyane 89′), A. Konqobe (M. Ndwandwe 62′), A. Fakude (C. Martin 55′), S. Luthuli (B. Poggenpoel 55′), E. Kambindu.
STELLENBOSCH: S. Stephens, D. van Rooyen, T. Moloisane, I. Toure, Q. Sibande (F. Basadien 90′), D. Titus, J. Adams, S. Nduli, K. Sekgota (A. Van Wyk 78′), I. Rayners (M. Boji 90+4′), A. de Jong (N. Mgaga 78′).
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