ANDREW MUCHINERIPI, Johannesburg | Saturday 8.30pm.
Wits University ……. (0) 1 (Alois Bunjira 47-pen)
Moroka Swallows ……. (0) 0
THERE was no place for the faint hearted here as the Clever Boys collected three Castle Premiership points after a match dominated by referee Stephen Moshotle and his assistants.
The man in the middle showed six yellow cards before sending off matchwinner Alois Bunjira five minutes into injury time before a small crowd at Investec Stadium on a cool evening punctuated by rain.
Swallows supporters, who easily outnumbered those backing the Clever Boys, were thoroughly fed up with the match officials long before the end of a game long on strength and speed and woefully short on skill.
Most of their anger stemmed from the nine offside decisions against the Birds, and when the cans started flying in the direction of the assistant referee on the main-stand side, he wisely switched halves.
This defused a potentially ugly situation, although one could not help feeling that much of the frustration stemmed from the poor finishing of Swallows,rather than the capabilities of the men in black.
Patrick Ningiza was marginally better than Aaron Nkosi in attack, but only in a brief second-half spell did the visitors seriously threaten stand-in Wits goalkeeper Rowan Fernandez.
Counterpart George Fernandes made a wonderful first-half reflex save from Zimbabwean Bunjira, but had no chance when the midfielder calmly slotted an early second-half penalty into the corner of the net.
The rise of Ajax Cape Town continued at Bellville Stadium when they beat Mother City 2-0 in a Cape derby through goals from former Bafana Bafana midfielder Brendan Augustine and Jeremy Jansen.