BAROKA FC VS GOLDEN ARROWS | ABSA

Richard Matloga (27)

Danny Phiri (75)

Competition: PSL
Date: Sunday, 18 December 2016
Venue: New Peter Mokaba Stadium
Kick-off: 15h30

Abafana Bes’thende have played to another draw this afternoon after scoring a second half goal to match Baroka FC’s first half one at the New Peter Mokaba Stadium.

It was an uninspiring first half as neither team got into any defined rhythm of play. The home team were able to open the scoring after Miheso fouled their player in the box and the referee awarded them with a penalty which was converted by Richard Matloga in the 27th minute. Shortly afterwards they were reduced to 10 men after Nkabinde was booked for the second time and given his marching orders.

We were unable to take advantage of the situation, although there were passages of good play and eventually were also reduced to 10 after Miheso again fouled a player and was also sent back to the change-rooms early. There was a lack of decisions when it came to finishing in the final third and this saw us go into the break a goal down.

An early change was made after the break that saw Clinton Larsen replace Siyabonga Dube with Sibiya in an attempt to inject some pace into the game but this never played out the way he would have liked.

The second half saw Baroka sit back and try and defend the lead as long as they could. We again had some promising plays but again, shots were just not good enough to get the break-through that was needed.

We managed to pull one back to equalise in the 70th minute after Sibeko put in a cross from the left side and Baroka keeper came out to clear the cross and missed the ball completely, the ball landed at Phiri’s feet and he put it in the back of the net. This livened the game up for the last 20 and both sides fought valiantly to find the winning goal. However, neither could finish and in the dying minutes a header attempt from Ntanga hit the upright just before the ref blew for full time.

The team will return to Durban and concentrate on the game against Kaizer Chiefs on Wednesday night at Moses Mabhida stadium before the festive break.