By Chris Totobela
Football lovers made their way to the JD Dlepu Stadium in Joza this past weekend to watch a top local derby between City Pirates and XI Attackers in the Hollywood Bets Regional League.
The game started at a blistering pace with both teams showing good intentions. Attackers took control of the midfield battle and created good scoring chances but failed to convert them.
Pirates absorbed a lot of pressure and caught Attackers with a sucker punch in the 29th minute when Sibulele Ndibaza blasted home a loose ball from a set piece to give his side the lead. Immediately after scoring, Ndibaza was taken off with a serious injury.
Pirates took their lead into the halftime break.
In the second half, Attackers took the game to Pirates and forced them to defend deep in their half. They created a lot of chances and only had themselves to blame for squandering them. Both teams made a few substitutions trying to influence the game in their favour.
Pirates absorbed the pressure very well and tried to catch Attackers on transition and it finally paid off in the 86th minute when Thobani Papiyane, who had been caught offside a few times, broke the defensive line wide on the right and managed to cut inside, and after twisting and turning Attackers’ defenders, steered the ball home to put the final nail on XI Attackers’ coffin.
Attackers tried to make a game out of it but it was too little too late as the referee, who had a good game, blew the final whistle.
