City and Rockets tighten grip on Top 8 spots
HERMAN GIBBS
Cape Town City and TS Galaxy look set to hold on to their top-eight berths after they drew their DStv Premiership match 1-1 at the Cape Town Stadium, Green Point, yesterday afternoon.
TS Galaxy coach Sead Ramovic said he would have liked all three points, but was happy with the draw.
“We played against a fantastic team and it was beautiful to come here and go away with a point,” said Ramovic.
“We started the game well and we had many opportunities (to score). My team trained well and the players have beautiful attitudes.”
Eric Tinkler, City’s coach, is not happy that his team did not collect maximum points.
“I think there were lots of turnovers for both sides,” said Tinkler. “Our ball retention was not good enough. We put ourselves under pressure.
“Our game management in the second half let us down. Later in the match, we took risks as we looked for a winner.”
Both teams were attack-minded at the outset, and this made for end-to-end fare that resulted in corners at either end in the opening six minutes.
Galaxy looked the more enterprising as they set off on a wave of attacks into the City half. However, they tended to hold onto the ball too long, and this helped City thwart some promising attacks.
While City were left to settle for a defensive role, they relied on transition play to transfer play to the Galaxy end. However, some of their sorties broke down because passes sometimes fell short, and Galaxy’s defence remained intact.
On the stroke of half-time, City’s transition play proved telling after Venezuelan midfielder Darwin González picked up a defensive clearance, after a Galaxy corner. González ran unchallenged some 60m upfield before he slipped the ball past advancing Rwandan goalkeeper Fiacre Ntwari for the opening goal of the match.
Almost as soon as the second-half play started, City were in trouble as Galaxy threatened with a penetrative attack that was hard to contain. In the process, referee Mokhele Thulo blew City up for a penalty. Sphiwe Mahlangu, Galaxy’s right winger, stepped up and struck the ball powerfully and low past goalkeeper Darren Keet (1-1).
Both teams made concerted efforts to find a match winner as the second half wore on and visitors Galaxy looked the likelier to score. Despite a plethora of substitutions, neither side could undo the stalemate although City had a close-range free kick in injury time, which they failed to exploit.
Meanwhile, in another afternoon match, Golden Arrows and Chippa United also played out to a 1-1 draw at Mpumalanga Stadium in Hammarsdale yesterday.