By Chris Totobela
Football fans made their way to the home of local football, JD Dlepu Stadium, on Saturday.
On show was a Hollywood Bets Regional League double-header featuring XI Attackers, Friendly City, Maru FC and City Pirates.
First up, XI Attackers hosted Alicedale-based Friendly City.
The home side took the lead straight from kick off as Bhutiwe “Salah” Zuzile caught City’s goalkeeper off-guard with a well taken snapshot from outside the box.
The visitors started playing more on the front foot and created chances of their own, but Lady Luck deserted them.
Attackers doubled their lead with less than 15 minutes left in the game when Siviwe Mandevu took a long range shot that left the goalkeeper for dead.
The home side held on to their lead until the final whistle.
In the second and main game of the day, City Pirates locked horns with Maru FC in a local derby that had all the ingredients of a great game.
Both teams started the game like a house on fire, but it was Maru that settled the quickest and kept Pirates on back foot.
Iviwe ” Last born” Soyiki took advantage of Pirates’ slow and shaky defence when he pounced on a loose ball and tapped it home from close range to open the scoring for his team.
Immediately after the goal, Pirates’ defence was once again caught in sixes and sevens as one of their defenders was adjudged to have handled the ball in the box and the man in the middle did not hesitate to point to the spot. Lisakhanya “Mr Reliable” Makretsi converted the spot kick to double the lead.
Pirates were still trying to recover when a shot-cum-cross from Luyolo “Pepesi” Matiwane was steered home by Vuyani “Sniper” Skeyi, taking a three-goal lead into the halftime break.
In the second half, Pirates started playing well and took the game to Maru. They were rewarded when Aviwe “Hotto” Klaas out-sprinted Maru’s defence and took a good ground shot that left the goalkeeper with no chance, reducing the deficit to two goals.
Pirates gained momentum and troubled Maru, but were guilty of not converting the chances they created. The game ended 3-1 to Maru FC.
There were plaudits for young referee Kamva Kralo in charge of the game .
