Uthongathi back in the chase in the first division after Steenberg win

Uthongathi’s 1-0 win against Steenberg United has put the KwaZulu-Natal GladAfrica Championship side back in contention for promotion to the elite league.

While it is early days and any talk of winning the league may be premature, getting in along with the pace setters in the country’s first division is something the Cane Cutters will cherish.

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And to their advantage, they have a game in hand on the teams above them while they are all on the same number of points. The Cane Cutters are fourth with 16 points after nine games. The teams above them are also on 16 points but have played 10 games.

It was Nkosiyazi Maphumulo – who was scoring for the first time as a professional – who scored the goal that ensured Pitso Dladla’s team the full points.

At the other end of the log, Cape Town Spurs remain bottom of the standings despite their impressive back-to-back wins, with just nine points after 10 games. The Urban Warriors made it two in a row when they beat neighbours Cape Town All Stars 1-0 on Saturday.

They had beaten JDR Stars 1-0 in their previous game, and coach Vladislav Heric will have hope that his side has turned the corner and can start climbing away from the bottom. Phakaaathi understands that Heric’s days at the Cape-based side were numbered and that he has bought himself some time with the consecutive wins.

The club’s management were said to be unhappy with how the team has started their campaign after failing just at the last hurdle to win promotion last season. Spurs, who were named Ajax Cape Town then, were overtaken by Swallows in the final three games of the season and failed to put up a fight in the playoffs after finishing second.

It was expected that the team would continue where they’d left off and be among the top teams from the beginning. That has not happened, but the side still has plenty of games to turn it around and they can still make it to the top if their current form continues.

Results: Royal AM 0 Pretoria Callies 1; Pondo Chiefs 0 TS Sporting 0; Cape Town Spurs 1 CT All Stars 0; FS Stars 0 Polokwane City 0; JDR Stars 0 Richards Bay 0; Jomo Cosmos 2 University of Pretoria 2; Cape United 0 Sekhukhune United 0.

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