Plucky Maritzburg United dent Cape Town City title hopes

Maritzburg United pulled the biggest upset in the DStv Diski Challenge on Sunday morning.

The Team of Choice went to Cape Town and dented Cape Town City FC title hopes with a 1-0 defeat on a rainy, wet day at Maltapark.

The hosts went to this match knowing well that they could not afford to slip up, as that would put their hopes of winning the coveted Diski Challenge title at risk after Supersport United extended the gap to four points at the top of Saturday.

However, the Cape Town based still failed to get maximum points against Maritzburg.

City started the game looking to get an early goal when goalkeeper Luca Diana-Oliaro played a nice long pass to find Luke Daniels; unfortunately, Nhlakanipho Ngcobo was equal to the task denying him a goalscoring opportunity.

The visitors took the lead after 18 minutes when Luphumlo "Kaka" Sifumba lost the ball outside his box. Asanda Buthelezi grabbed the opportunity and punished City.

The Citizens created a couple of opportunities, trying to fight back, but they could not get any goals in the first half, with Daniels fluffing opportunities.

The second half started with City pushing for an equaliser, half chances for the likes of Daniels and Sifumba but nothing for the keeper to save.

Maritzburg United looked more dangerous than the home side, winning every ball on air.

Towards the end of the match, there was not much to write about, and the early first-half goal proved to be enough to hand The Team Of Choice all three points. The defeat means the title hopes are all over for City unless we witness another twist of events in the three remaining Diski Challenge matches.