Thamsanqa Mkhize, Captain of Cape Town City FC and Moses Mthembu of Richards Bay FC compete during the 2024 Carling Knockout Cup match at King Zwelithini Stadium yesterday. BackpagePix
Richards Bay (0) 0
Cape Town City (0)
Richards Bay kept their Carling Knockout Cup dream alive after beating Cape Town City 5-4 on penalties to book their place in the semi-finals of the competition.
The two teams could not be separated after 120 minutes with no goals scored on each side but it the Natal Rich Boyz that had the necessary composure to convert their penalties and advance.
Having stated his unhappiness with his team’s lack of goal conversion in front of goal this season, coach Brandon Truter fielded up youngster Thabisa Ndelu for his third appearance of the season while South Africa Under 20 international Bomelo Ntlonelo received his debut up front.
With just two set-piece goals scored in the six games before this, huge pressure was on the hosts to start the game brightest with a desire to hit the back of the net.
Having rested some of his most talented men in the midweek defeat to Mamelodi Sundowns, coach Eric Tinkler put out a strong and attacking starting 11 under perfect conditions in Umlazi.
Despite a calm start to the match, Richards Bay almost found an early breakthrough in the first six minutes through the energetic Ntlonelo.
The lanky youngster made a blinding run behind the defence and was found by Thulani Gumede but his quick-fire shot was blocked just in time by Lorenzo Gordinho.
From there it was almost clear how the rest of the game was going to progress with the visitors enjoying the majority of the ball possession while the hosts were more comfortable playing on the counter-attack.
The opening stanza provided just the potential of how the match might go but both teams struggled with their returns in the final third and therefore went into the break deadlocked.
Shortly after the resumption of the second half, Truter put hold to his experiment and introduced Justice Figuareido and Thato Mohlamme to the young duo of Ndelu and Ntlonelo.
In the away dugout, Tinkler would’ve been frustrated at his side’s inability to carve the Natal Rich Boyz open with all of their talent on the pitch.
With the scores evenly matched at the full-time whistle, the game needed extra time to be decided, adding that tournament football feel to the occasion.
The home team crowd were left holding their heads when second-half substitute Thabang Sibanyoni spurned the best chance of the match inside five minutes of extra time.
The Mamelodi Sundowns loanee was found in the middle of the goal by full-back Ndaba on the overlap but just when it seemed harder to miss, Sibanyoni sent his header straight to Darren Keet in goal.
Straight off that action, City jumped into a counter-attack as Kayden Francis skipped two defenders and came on one with the goalkeeper but a bad touch saw him lose control of the ball and was blocked off.
The match would eventually go on to be decided via a penalty shootout as both teams cancelled each other out.