A goal 13 minutes from time by Richard Rantjie kept Supersport United’s unbeaten record intact and earned them a 1-1-draw against a nine-man Jomo Cosmos team in a drama-packed Castle Premiership clash played at Loftus on Wednesday night.
Cosmos led 1-0 at half-time.
First, defender Morgan Gould was sent off in injury time of the first half, and then striker Chris Katongo was sent for an early shower in the 79th minute.
United held the upper hand in an opening half that came alive in the last five minutes. The home side struggled to make any impression against the ultra-defensive Cosmos.
A great goal from Mark Haskins lit up this match. Haskins’s long-range effort was too good for goalkeeper Calvin Marlin, and gave Ezenkosi a 1-0 lead three minutes from the break.
But the wild celebrations that greeted the goal turned sour in injury time when Cosmos’s Gould was shown the red card by referee Ace Ncobo for stamping on former teammate Dikgang Mabalane.
Haskins was unlucky not to have made it 2-0 a minute from the break when his goal-bound shot was cleared off the line with Marlin well beaten.
It was Mabalane who had the best chance to break the deadlock in the 14th minute for the home side, but he wasted the chance by shooting wide.
Three minutes later, Cosmos on a rare attack almost snatched a goal, but Marlin did well to come off his line, narrowing the angle and forcing Haskins to shoot wide of the target.
But Marlin, who was on Wednesday called up for the Bafana Bafana squad to play Nigeria in next Wednesday’s Nelson Mandela Challenge at Ellis Park, fumbled Lucky Mhlathe’s cross after 30 minutes.
Marlin was lucky when the ball was cleared.
United threw everything forward in the second half with ‘keeper Avril Phadi making a number of good saves to keep a clean sheet.
Phadi did well to stop a powerful shot from Abram Raselemane in the 47th minute.
But he could do little to prevent Rantjie equalising in the 77th minute. However, Cosmos shot themselves in the foot when Katongo was red-carded in the 79th minute for kicking Cavann Sibeko. It was the striker’s second bookable offence. — Sapa