Cape Town All Stars Crush Swallows FC’s Top Flight Hopes With Dramatic Late Victory in Promotion Playoff

Cape Town All Stars Crush Swallows FC’s Top Flight Hopes With Dramatic Late Victory in Promotion Playoff

Byron Pillay
updated at April 12, 2023 at 8:04 PM
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  • Swallows FC were flying high after Grant Margeman gave them the lead in the second half of the game
  • Wandisile Letlabika committed two errors which resulted in Cape Town All Stars stealing a late victory
  • Swallows FC need to beat the University of Pretoria in their final game to remain in the DStv Premiership

Swallows FC’s season could have been ruined in the space of five minutes.

The Dube Birds went from being 1-0 to being 2-1 down in the space of five minutes. Swallows now need to win their last game to retain their DStv Premiership status.

Cape Town All Stars, Crush, Swallows FC, Top Flight, Hopes, Dramatic, Late Victory, Promotion Playoff, Sport, Soccer, South Africa, AmaTuks
Cape Town All Stars produced a late comeback to steal victory from Swallows FC in their promotion playoffs. Image: @LimSportsZone/ @KickOffMagazine/ @Makonco_M
Source: Twitter

The opening few minutes of the first half saw both sides trade attempts.

Cape Town All Stars, despite not having anything to play for, had numerous chances to make life difficult for Swallows.

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It was Swallows though who had the better chances as the Dube Birds chased victory to boost their chances of staying in the DStv Premiership.

Kyle Peters in the Cape Town All Stars goal produced a Ronwen Williams-like performance as he saved everything that was thrown at him in the first half.

Kamohelo Mhlatsi and Monnapule Saleng troubled the All Stars defence in the first half, cutting them apart and getting shots on goal. All Stars had their fair share of chances as well as Justice Figuareido and Sirgio Kammies combined well on right flank.

Swallows started the second half better but wasted a few chances to take the lead. Coach Dylan Kerr has often spoken about his side’s failure to convert chances in games and it looked like they would rue that once again.

Margeman brushed those fears aside as he drilled a ball from outside the box into the bottom corner. Swallows looked to be cruising to victory but everything turned around within five minutes.

On Wandisile Letlabika decided to push out of defence and lost the ball in the middle of the field. With the Swallows defender out of position, Ronaldo Maarman got the ball and unleashed a long-range effort which found the back of the net.

Letlabika then gave away a penalty in the 92nd minute when he handled the ball in the box deliberately. Ndiviwe Mdabuka stepped up and put the penalty away to give All Stars a dramatic victory.

Swallows remain on four points on the table while University of Pretoria are on five points. The two sides play on Wednesday to decide who takes the final spot in the DStv Premiership.

Cape Town All Stars' dreams of playing in DStv Premiership extinguished in AmaTuks draw in PSL play offs

The University of Pretoria and Cape Town All Stars played out an entertaining 1-1 draw at the ABSA Tuks Stadium in Tshwane earlier this afternoon.

In a match Sports Brief observed, Thabang Sibanyoni pounced on a mistake by All Stars goalkeeper Luther Jacobs in the 44th minute. Ndiviwe Mdabuka equalised for iGugu LeKapa in the 55th minute.

The result was fatally costly for the visitors, as they were eliminated from the mini-tournament mathematically, dashing their already fading hopes of playing in the DStv Premiership next season.

Authors
Byron Pillay photo
Byron Pillay
Byron Pillay is a sports writer and Head of the Department at Sports Brief (joined in 2022) with over 10 years of experience in community journalism and a degree in journalism from Caxton's Cadet School.
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DStv PremiershipSouth Africa