Cape Town City overcame a red-card in the first half to register a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Orlando Pirates at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Sunday.
Kermit Erasmus got the all-important goal on the stroke halftime after Mpho Makola was given his marching orders for two bookable offences just after the half-hour mark.
Makola picked up his first booking just three minutes into the encounter for a cynical foul on Vincent Pule and clumsily lunged into tackle 30 minutes later.
Before Makola was dismissed, the game was evenly balanced with both sides having chances without making any goalkeeper work hard.
Pirates forward Tshegofatso Mabasa went close but hit the side-netting while at the other end Happy Jele was forced to clear off his goal-line after a goal-mouth scramble.
It was after Makola’s red-card that City played better with the 10 men on the pitch suddenly giving something extra.
It was in first-half stoppage that the Citizens took the lead when they did well to work a move down the right-hand side that allowed Thamsanqa Mkhize to produce an excellent cross for Erasmus head home.
Pirates, as expected, came out firing after the break with Thembinkosi Lorch hitting the crossbar from a tight angle.
City though had two great chances on the counter-attack inside the space of five minutes to double their lead, with Erasmus and substitute Craig Martin denied by Wayne Sandilands in the Pirates goal.
Pirates laid siege on the City goal late in the game but shot-stopper Peter Leeuwenburgh did brilliantly to deny Kabelo Dlamini twice in quick succession five minutes from full-time.
The keeper first made himself big to block a goal-bound effort and then tipped a header over the bar from the follow-up corner.
In the end, the Cape side bravely held out with a man down to take all three points and consolidate their place in the top-eight of the PSL standings.
– TEAMtalk media
