Richards Bay winger Wandile Ngema in action against Cape Town City alongside Kamohelo Mokotjo
Image: Richards Bay
Richards Bay (0) 1
Gumede 79’
Cape Town City (0) 0
Richards Bay handed Cape Town City their 15th defeat of the season as a late Thulani Gumede strike proved decisive at the King Zwelithini Stadium on Friday.
The Natal Rich Boys boosted their chances of survival as they moved two places into 11th on the Betway Premiership Standings and extended the gap between themselves and the relegation zone to four points.
The Cityzens remained just a point off 15th placed Supersport Unites and have now gone 13 matches without a win.
Gumede, who had been thorn in the City defence throughout the match found the breakthrough late in the game via a counterattack in the 79th minute.
The speedy winger was played through on goal by second half substitute Wandile Ngema and showed great composure to calm himself and curled the ball past Darren Keet.
As the season winds down to its final stage, the battle at the bottom intensifies as the scrap for survival continues more especially when six-pointers come around.
Richards Bay and City were only separated by a point ahead of this match with a potential victory for either side as they try to escape SuperSport United in 15th place.
With City on a 12-match winless streak, there was great optimism from the visitors ahead of their trip to Durban with one of their six victories coming against The Natal Rich Boys in the first round.
However, both teams cut figures of the side not wanting to lose rather than go full throttle for all three points in the first half.
With the few chances that were created, none of them troubled any of the goalkeepers as the opening 45 minutes was dominated by scrappy challenges and a high volume of turnovers.
With the game in desperate need of drama, the lighting at the King Zwelithini Stadium took centre stage, with a set of lights going off at half time and causing a 30 minutes delay to the start of the second half.
Although the visitors upped the ante in the second half, it was the hosts who found the all important goal in the night.
Richards Bay will have an opportunity to make it back to back wins when they face Mamelodi Sundowns on the 26th of April while City face the Brazilians on the 4th of March.
