Etafia's saves sends Swallows through

A first half goal by Edward Manqele was enough to put Moroka Swallows into the next round of the Telkom Knockout at the expense of University of Pretoria.

Zeca Marques’ team made the most of their chance in a tight cup game that had very few genuine goal scoring chances at the Dobsonville Stadium.

The opening ten minutes of the match were not very inspiring as both sides gave possession away far too often and neither side could get into their rhythm.

Thabo Mosadi came close with ten minutes to go to halftime, but Birds goalkeeper Greg Etafia showed all his experience to punch away the danger and keep his side in the lead.

The former Plateau United and Lobi Stars custodian made classical saves in the second half to deny University of Pretoria.

In the opening ten minutes of the second half, Swallows kept the ball very well and made AmaTuks work hard for possession. Manqele had the first real chance of the half, in the 55th minute, but Washington Arubi saves easily.

As the half wore on, the tackles became more and more ferocious as both sides looked to take a hold on the game. Khethukuhle Zwane and Chanangu were both booked in quick succession, while Felix Obada was introduced to beef-up the attack.

Nigeria's Felix Obada also had a chance to score more for Swallows, but he was too naïve to impress.

Overall it was good game by the Nigerian duo in the colours of Swallows.

The closing stages of the second half saw many strong tackles being made and a lot of fight from both sets of players, but with very few genuine scoring chances in the game it was The Birds who held on for the victory.

Swallows: Etafia, Mungomeni, Da Costa, Cohen, Mokgothu, Mbekile, Nergadze, Chabangu (Ogle 74’), Tsutsulupa, Nomvete (Obada 74’), Manqele