Cape Town City went top of the DStv Premiership standings after they clinched a narrow 1-0 win over Golden Arrows at the Mpumalanga Stadium on Sunday evening.
Khanyisa Mayo’s deflected eight-minute strike settled the contest in Hammarsdale as Eric Tinkler’s side extended their unbeaten run to seven matches to go one point clear of Mamelodi Sundowns at the summit.
Abafana Bes’thende remain unmoved in fourth place following a third successive defeat which has left them three points adrift of SuperSport United (3rd).
Arrows targeted a return to winning ways after suffering back-to-back losses against Royal AM and AmaZulu, while City were looking to make it six wins on the spin to put pressure on the frontrunners.
The visitors applied early pressure and got their reward in the eight minute when the ball was switched from one flank to the other before being cut back to Mayo, whose shot took a deflection off Theron to beat Ismail Watenga.
Mabhuti Khenyeza’s side almost found a swift response as Knox Mutizwa fired into the side-netting on 12 minutes after Gladwin Shitolo’s long ball opened up space behind the opposition defence.
Shitolo then picked up the ball from a half-cleared corner and sent his shot straight at Darren Keet on the quarter-hour mark and Watenga was called into action four minutes later to keep out Mayo’s header from Darwin Gonzalez’s cross.
Thabiso Kutumela threatened to extend the Citizens’ lead with a strike from range that flew narrowly past the right post on 27 minutes, while Mutizwa drilled a shot just to the left of the visiting goal in the 37th minute.
Kutumela attempted to catch Watenga off his line two minutes before half-time, but chipped the ball over the crossbar as City went into the break a goal to the good.
The hosts were presented with a good chance to restore parity 12 minutes into the second half when Gbagbo Magbi was fouled by Lorenzo Gordinho a few yards out from the box, but Mutizwa struck the free-kick wide of the left post.
Shitolo wasn’t able to hit the target after getting his head on the end of another set-piece in the 58th minute and Mayo also failed to test Watenga with a header from a 78th-minute corner.
Keet came to City’s rescue five minutes from time with a superb diving save to his right to prevent a free-kick from sneaking into the back of the net and he had to palm away a long-range strike from Mutizwa in stoppage time to preserve their lead