Moroka Swallows ended the premier soccer league season on a high note when they defeated Manning Rangers 3-1 in a tense Absa Cup final played at Vodacom Park on Sunday. The half-time score was 1-1.
The drama started late in the match when Swallows scored the two winning goals and Rangers had their captain and key defender Frank Schoeman sent off for arguing with referee Daniel Bennett.
In the 86th minute both teams were locked at 1-1. Two substitutes, Shaun Permall and Samuel Ngobeni combined to make it 2-1. Two minutes later Schoeman was shown the red card. The match ended in disaster for Rangers when defender Liswa Nduti gave away a 90th minute penalty which was converted by Dennis Lota to give Birds a 3-1 win.
Both teams produced an entertaining opening 45 minutes. Rangers took the lead in the sixth minute when referee Bennett awarded the Mighty Maulers a penalty after Birds’ Rufus Mokoti fouled Edson Minga inside the penalty area.
Striker Keryn Jordan, who was loaned to Rangers from Swallows in February, took the responsibility and put his new club into a 1-0 lead.
However, Rangers struck back in the 12th minute when Lungisani Ndlela headed home Mark McVeigh’s corner to level the final. The Birds midfielder was unlucky on two occasions. The first time it was in the 27th minute when Schoeman managed to clear his goal-bound shot off the goalline. Three minutes later Mofokeng’s shot on goal was deflected for a corner.
Swallows were in charge of the second half where they had the Maulers under a lot of pressure. McVeigh was fractionally wide in the 54th minute with a clever curling shot.
Rangers SA under-23 goalkeeper Chad Harpur came to the party in the 64th minute when he brilliantly saved Edzai Kasinauyo’s well directed volley.
Ndlela was guilty of the miss of the day when his close-range header sailed over the crossbar in the 76th minute as the Birds sensed blood and went in for the kill.
It came as no surprise when the fresh legs of Permall beat the offside trap and his cross found Ngobeni who slotted into an empty net to start the Swallows fans celebrating their first trophy in 15 years.
Swallows collected a winners cheque of R1,5-million and Rangers went home R900Â 000 richer. – Sapa