Molefi Ntseki recorded the first win of his tenure at Kaizer Chiefs after they came from behind to beat Cape Town City 2-1 in the MTN8 quarterfinals at Athlone Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The Citizens opened the scoring through Marc van Heerden in the 23rd minute, although Ashley Du Preez found a reply for Amakhosi nine minutes before half-time.
An action-packed second half appeared to produce no further goals, but Edson Castillo popped up at the death to score for the third game in succession to keep alive Ntseki’s hopes of winning silverware in his debut season.
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City head coach Eric Tinkler had stated in the build-up to the match that the MTN8 was not a priority for his team, but they made a positive start in Athlone to put Chiefs on the back foot.
After a quiet opening which saw the two sets of players battle for superiority, the hosts took the lead midway through the first half when Van Heerden rose highest to head past Brandon Petersen from a corner in the 23nd minute.
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The Glamour Boys looked to respond and Yusuf Maart went close with a strike from range that drifted just to the right of the goal on 28 minutes before parity was restored eight minutes later.
Mduduzi Mdantsane, who left City in the off-season to join Chiefs, came back to bite his former employers as he picked out Du Preez inside the box and the winger beat Darren Keet to level matters.
Thamsanqa Mkhize almost hit back for the Citizens moments later after getting on the end of Khanyisa Mayo’s delivery, but his shot flashed inches wide of the left post.
Petersen was quickly called into action at the start of the second half as he produced a smart save to prevent Brice Ambina’s shot from finding the top right corner of the net on 48 minutes before Mdantsane blazed over from distance at the other end soon afterwards.
The Citizens continued to push for a second goal and Darwin Gonzalez lined up a shot from range that sailed high and wide on 55 minutes, while Van Heerden drew a routine save out of Petersen with another long-range strike two minutes later.
Taahir Goedeman failed to keep his effort down from inside the box on the right in the 68th minute and Mayo also cleared the crossbar with a header from a corner on 71 minutes.
Amakhosi almost made them pay from a corner of their own six later minutes later when Given Msimango steered a header narrowly past the right post and Christian Saile tested Keet with a an effort from inside the area on 79 minutes.
There was a flurry of chances at both ends in the closing stages as Du Preez drew two saves out of Keet from inside the area before Petersen was required to keep out a header from Jo Paciencia and a shot from Thabo Nodada.
However, Castillo ensured there would be no extra time when he struck from close range in the fourth minute of stoppage time to snatch a dramatic victory for the Soweto giants.