Cape Town — Chippa United's record-breaking four-match winning streak ended abruptly at the Cape Town Stadium on Tuesday night when hosts Cape Town City ran out 2-1 victors in their DStv Premiership fixture.
For most of the way, Chippa looked set to extend their match-winning streak to five, but City's pressure finally took its toll in the later stages of the match, when City gained the lead for the first time in the match, with six minutes of playing time left.
After dominating first-half play, City came away empty-handed despite a 60% possession advantage. To add insult to injury, City had 13 shots at goal, whereas Chippa had one, and it produced the only first-half goal.
Just past the half-hour mark, Chippa staged a rare counter-attack down the right flank and for a while, City were on the back foot trying to contain the threat. Midfielder Siphelele Luthuli produced a fine pass which evaded City’s defence and unmarked latched on to the ball before slipping it past goalkeeper Darren Keet.
City forced four first-half corners and the set-piece nearly produced a goal, but the effort was thwarted by the crossbar. Lyle Lakay's corner was well met by Darwin González whose header struck the crossbar.
Midfielder Mduduzi Mdantsane also came close for City after a strong shot from range struck the upright and bounced back into play, a few minutes after Chippa's goal.
As second-half play wound on, City upped the ante and dominated play to a greater extent. However, they had to wait until the 72nd minute before they reaped rewards for their endeavour. Midfielder Thabo Nodada slipped a through ball to Khanyisa Mayo who netted the equaliser (1-1).
Moments later, Mayo was close with another scoring attempt but Chippa's defence sprang a leak six minutes from the end when Thamsanqa Mkhize netted the matchwinning goal after a set-piece.
IOL Sport