It’s advantage Swallows as All Stars hold AmaTuks to a draw

Swallows FC may have not been on the pitch at Tuks Stadium on Wednesday afternoon but they were the winners as University of Pretoria and Cape Town All Stars played to a 1-1 draw. 

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This result favours the Soweto side who now need to beat All Stars on Saturday to put themselves in a better position to retain their DStv Premiership status.

As things stand, AmaTuks are still top of the log in the GladAfrica Championship playoffs with five points from three games. Swallows are second with four with a game in hand. Igugu leKapa have one point and are now out of the race for promotion to the top flight.

AmaTuks will now have to definitely beat Swallows on 15 June if they are to be promoted to the top flight. 

On Wednesday, the game was evenly balanced in the early stages and All Stars looked composed although they had to survive a few threats from AmaTuks. It was however clear that the hosts would score from a defensive blunder from their visitors.

They almost got it when All Stars goalkeeper Luther Jacobs tried to make a clearance but the ball fell in front of an AmaTuks player. They tried to hit him with a long range effort but he managed to backtrack and get to it.

He punched it away but then collided with the upright, and suffered a head injury. It was however not too serious and he managed to continue with the game. 

With a minute to the end of the game, defender Ryan Baartman attempted a back pass but Thabang Sibanyoni managed to get to it and dispossess the keeper who tried to turn away from him and send it into the net to give the hosts a lead going into the break. 

Sibanyoni fluffed a good chance to extend AmaTuks’ lead eight minutes into the second half when he was set through on goal but Jacobs was quick off his line and managed to block his attempted lob. 

A minute after that, Igugu leKapa found the equaliser through Ndiviwe Mdabuka’s header. Ayanda Mvambi tried to trick the referee to give AmaTuks a penalty on the 68th minute, but he was correctly positioned to not fall for the striker’s tricks and rewarded him with a yellow card instead.