Hundreds of passionate football lovers gathered at Northerns for the first league encounter between coaches Jannie van den Berg’s (Northerns) and Raymond Cloete’s (Old Bens) teams in a number of years.
Even the likes of former Northerns players Rowen Fernandez and Ryan Chapman, who have both played for Bafana Bafana, were spotted among the revellers.
Northerns, riddled with injuries this season, again shuffled their line-up for this game – evident when skipper Wade Marshall, usually a midfielder, returned to the starting XI in the centre of defence, alongside Warren Vogel (who has also had his own injury troubles in recent weeks).
Van den Berg was also required to promote 18-year-old goalkeeper Rowen Viljoen from the second team to fill the boots of regular number one Colte Smit, who was also out through injury.
An exciting reserve team encounter, that ended 4-3 to Northerns, set the tone for the main clash and the supporters were in for a competitive first team match.
The home side opened the scoring early into the match, when right midfielder Tshatsho Molapo tapped in to give his team a 1-0 lead from a Seanego assist.
Despite going down, Bens played a good game and controlled most of the possession, particularly in the midfield through 18-year-old Keagan Bailie and the experienced Thamsanqa Hlatshwayo.
With about 30 minutes played, prolific Old Bens striker Bilal Mohammed almost levelled the scores after he beat Viljoen, but his effort agonisingly came back off the woodwork.
Moments later Northerns would double their advantage, courtesy of a wondrous strike from left midfielder Hosea Puleng Seanego, that sailed into the top corner of Matthew Carter’s goal.
The teams would go into the break with the score at 2-0.
In the second half, the Bens midfield players again enjoyed the greater share of possession and, when Eduardo Mendes scored with his head from a corner kick, there was all to play for at 2-1.
Van den Berg introduced Nkululeko Gungqisa (another who has had an injury) into the fold and the former captain made a telling impact.
Gungqisa scored the all-important third goal with his head (another Seanego assist) to take the score to 3-1.
Bens fought tooth and nail to get back into it and soon Mohammed had the ball past Northerns’ young goalkeeper, after a superb long through ball from Bailie.
As is expected in most derbies, the referee did eventually brandish a red card to send off Gungqisa for what he deemed to be a dangerous challenge.
The hosts would, however, hold out to end a five-match losing streak and go above their rivals on the league table.
Commenting post-game, Northerns’ skipper Marshall said: “It was a good win for us, because it gets us back to winning ways after losing five in a row.
“The main focus was to go out there and get the three points.
“The boys really stepped up,” he added.
“We have been chopping and changing all season, so it’s nice to get back on track.”
The captain praised Seanego for his spectacular strike and for his two assists.
“He really made the difference,” Marshall said.
“The Benoni Derby is always a challenge, so it’s great to be on the winning team.”
