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Leopards devour determined Wits
26/04/2008 18:55 - (SA)
Johannesburg - A backs-to-the-wall, but hungrier Black Leopards devoured Wits University while playing with 10 men for most of their much-needed 2-1 Premier League win at Thohoyandou Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The victory was the first achieved by Leopards in 15 games and gave the bottom team in the PSL a glimmer of hope of avoiding relegation after Lebo Kekana was sent off in the fourth minute following a crunching tackle on Wits central defender Ashraf Hendricks.
Wits were also reduced to 10 men in the 70th minute following a cynical off-the-ball infringement by bustling striker Dale Studzinski, but by that stage The Students were already trailing 1-0 through a masterful free-kick from Christopher Netshidzivhe that curled into the roof of the net with goalkeeper Moeneeb Josephs moving in the opposite direction.
"We lost to the hungrier team," said Wits coach Roger de Sa afterwards, "and, quite frankly, we didn't deserve to win. If you can't score against 10 men while playing with an extra player for two-thirds of the game you deserve to lose."
And with Wits throwing everything into a belated attack in the final 15 minutes in a bid to secure an equaliser to improve their now-shaky hopes of qualifying for the Top Eight competition, Leopards missed three gilt-edged opportunities from counter-attacks that could have made the victory margin a good deal more convincing.
On a humid, stifling afternoon, with Wits looking languid and lazy, Leopards brushed aside the disadvantage of playing with 10 men for almost the entire opening period.
And, with neither side showing any signs of possessing the ability to score goals, the first half was completed without either goalkeeper required to make a save of any consequence.
There was not a great deal more penetration on view during the second period either, with Josephs in Wits' goal fortunate in the 55th minute when he rushed from his penalty area to defuse a Leopards' attack-- badly miss-kicking the ball in the process, but still surviving the indignity of conceding a goal.
- SAPA
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