CLEVER BOYS SECURE THIRD SPOT
Bidvest Wits edged out Lamontville Golden Arrows 1-0 in an Absa Premiership match at the Princess Magogo Stadium on Saturday.
The victory saw the Clever Boys finish the season on third place, while Abafana Bes’thende finished 10th on the table.
The Clever Boys did most of the attacking in the opening stages of the game and they threatened through Frank Mhango.
The Malawi international unleashed a shot which was well-saved by Maximilian Mbaeva in Arrows goal in the 18th minute.
Mbaeva was then called into action in the 27th minute by his Namibia teammate Deon Hotto, whose effort was well saved by the shot-stopper.
Abafana Bes’thende nearly scored against the run of play on the half-hour mark, but Darren Keet was alert in Wits goal and he denied Sanele Mathenjwa.
The last chance of the first-half went to Abafana Bes’thende, but Keet came out deny Lerato Lamola a chance to connect with Siyabonga Dube’s cross just before halftime.
The score was 0-0 at the interval following a lively first-half.
The Clever Boys began the second-half brightly and they did break the deadlock through former Arrows forward Mhango.
The diminutive attacker scored with a brilliant finish – beating Mbaeva hands down to make it 1-0 to Wits after a good move by the visitors.
Gavin Hunt, the Wits coach, then made a double substitution – introducing Edwin Gyimah and Gift Motupa at the same time.
However, Arrows applied some pressure on Wits in the dying minutes of the encounter, but they were wasteful.
Knox Mutizwa and Devine Lunga both missed the target within two minutes as the Clever Boys survived a late scare.
Wits then stood firm at the back and they ran out 1-0 winners over Arrows, who were unable to grab a late equalising goal.
Arrows (0) 0
Wits (0) 1 (Mhango 47′))
Arrows: Mbaeva, Sibisi, Bilankulu, Mzava, Lunga, Venter, Phiri, Dube (Sibiya 78′), Mathenjwa (Ndwandwe 56′), Mutizwa, Lamola (Sibeko 75′).
Wits: Keet, Mere, Mkhwanazi, Johannes, Hlanti, Monare, Scott (Gyimah 64′), Hotto, Pelembe, Mhango (Ritchie 80′), Majoro (Motupa 64′).
