Like a jackdaw furtively making off with a prized jewel, Cape Town-based Santos ”stole” off with a valuable 2-1 Absa Cup win against Moroka Swallows at a sparsely-filled, but shocked Orlando Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The stunning, deciding headed goal from Botswana international Dipsy Selolwane was scored in the 90th minute and left the hapless Birds only three futile minutes of additional time to pull the fat from the fire.
Although Santos had also opened the scoring in the 65th minute with a glorious 30-metre shot from Marawaan Bantam that crashed into the top corner of the net, it was Swallows who dominated play territorially and had more than sufficient opportunities to have won the game comfortably.
Instead, the Birds barely managed to equalise in the 82nd minute through gangling Senegalese striker Mame Niang, and then needed a dramatic clearance off the goalline by Ivan Winstanley in the 89th minute to remain on level terms.
Ironically, it was following the resultant corner that Selolwane sealed the issue and left Swallows players, officials and supporters as mortified as if they had come face-to-face with a ghost.
Down-to-earth Santos coach Roger de Sa admitted the victory and entry into the quarterfinals of the lucrative competition was imbued with ”a strong slice of luck”.
”But we scored two great goals,” he added, ”and the players battled throughout against the odds. However, we’ve played a lot better and lost games.”
It was probably the extra degree of grit that saw Santos through, with several of the Swallows team performing for much of the match as though they expected victory to be a formality — and this kind of attitude often invites trouble.
Meanwhile, in Pretoria Mamelodi Sundowns scrapped through to a hard-fought 1-0 win over Mabopane Young Masters to book themselves a place in the quarterfinals of the Absa Cup at Pilditch Stadium on Sunday.
Crowd favourite and dribbling wizard Manqoba Ngwenya kept his team in the contention for cup honours with a sublime goal in the 30th minute after he wrong footed two Young Masters defenders before shooting a deceptively low shot into the corner.
The winning margin could have been greater if it were not for the efforts of Young Masters goalkeeper Miphy Lupini, who bravely kept his side in the hunt throughout the 90 minutes as he quashed numerous Sundowns attacks in the dying moments of this encounter.
Sundowns, who came into the fixture the obvious favourites to advance, were surprisingly made to sweat for their victory by their city counterparts in near perfect conditions at the athletics venue where Michael Johnson set a world record in the 300m event.
While little significance may have been placed at Johnson’s feat at the picnic-friendly venue, Sundowns’ victory will go a long way in boosting morale within the championship contenders’ ranks.
However, it was not an easy outing for the former three-time Premier Soccer League winners as Young Masters dared to play some decent football and even threatened to rattle the net of Andre Arendse.
Cup matches are never meant to be easy and the Mvela Golden League outfit certainly keeping the Sundowns’ brains trust thinking.
In hindsight, Sundowns always had the game in check but it was their fitness and physical prowess that was constantly brought into question by their ever-hungry opponents.
Sundowns may have emerged from this match deserved victors, but much commendation went the way of Young Masters as the handful of Sundowns supporters gave them a standing ovation after the game. — Sapa