Bidvest Wits continued their strong form in the Absa Premiership by defeating Cape Town City 2-1 at Athlone Stadium on Saturday evening.

Leholohonolo Majoro came back to haunt his former team, scoring two goals for the Clever Boys as they secured a fifth win from their last seven league outings. The Citzens, meanwhile, have now lost three PSL matches on the bounce.

The match got off to a physical start, with aggressive challenges flying in, and Wits had both Keegan Ritchie and Edwin Gyimah booked side the opening 22 minutes.

Both teams suffered injury blows in the first half, with City forced to replace Matthew Rusike with Nana Akosah-Bempah and the Clever Boys sending on Vincent Pule in place of Frank Mhango.

City generally enjoyed the better of play through a stop-start first stanza, but it was the Johannesburg side who claimed the lead on the cusp of the interval when former Citizens striker Lehlohonolo Majoro took advantage of some poor defending to find the net.

The Cape side took 15 minutes of the second half to hit back, with some fine skill from Bradley Ralani teeing up winger Craig Martin to score with a deflected shot and level the game at 1-1 on the hour mark.

Yet any thoughts City had that they would go on and win the match were shattered in the 73rd minute when Majoro got on the end of a Sifiso Halnti cross to net his second of the evening, putting the Clever Boys back into the lead at 2-1.

City pushed hard for a second equaliser in what remained of the game, but Wits were able to hold firm in defence and claim all three points on offer.

Cape Town City (0) 1 (Martin 60’)
Bidvest Wits (1) 2 (Majoro 45+1’ 73’)


City: Walters, Fielies (Roberts 77’), Johannes, Gumede, Mkhize, Modise, Nodada, Seedat, Ralani (Lakay 62’), Rusike (Akosah-Bempah 28’), Martin

Wits: Keet, Allie, Hlatshwayo, Mkhwanazi, Ritchie (Alexander 82’), Mosiatlhaga (Myeni 66’), Gyimah, Claasen, Hlanti, Mhango (Pule 21’), Majoro

Cape Town City will look to bounce back from successive defeats in the Absa Premiership when they host Bidvest Wits at Athlone Stadium on 24 February 2018, kick-off at 18h00.

City suffered a second successive league defeat when they lost 1-0 away to Kaizer Chiefs on February 17. The Cape Town side has won just one of their last five league matches, picking up just four points from a possible 15 in the sequence.

The Citizens have claimed 16 points from 10 home matches this season, though their last game as hosts ended in a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Mamelodi Sundowns earlier this month.

Wits extended their unbeaten run in the league to six matches with a 2-1 away win over Golden Arrows on February 17. The Johannesburg side has claimed 14 points from the last 18 up for grabs.

The Clever Boys have claimed just 14 points from 10 away matches this season, though their last two games on the road have brought them an emphatic 4-1 victory at SuperSport United and the above-mentioned win at Arrows.

In head-to-head stats, City and Wits have met in three league matches since the start of last season. The Cape side took four points off their Johannesburg counterparts last season, and added a further three to that tally early in this campaign when they won 1-0 at Bidvest Stadium in August 2017. Striker Lehlohonolo Majoro scored the only goal of that match, and he has since left City to join the Clever Boys.

City’s line-up from their 1-0 loss to Chiefs on February 17: Stephens, Mkhize, Fielies, Mngonyama, Edmilson, Modise (Roberts 59’), Nodada, Putsche (Akosah-Bempah 80’), Lakay, Martin (Masina 46’), Rusike.

Wits’ line-up from their 2-1 win over Arrows on February 17: Keet, Allie, Hlatswayo, Monare (Ntshangase 44'), Hlanti, Claasen, Mkhwanazi, Mhango, Myeni (Ritchie 65'), Gyimah, Majoro (Keene 77').