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Cape Town - Santos beat Maritzburg United 1-0 in a Telkom Knockout first round game at the Athlone Stadium on Friday night, thanks to a 93rd minute Erwin Isaacs strike.
Although Santos showed some good attacking intent early on, there were no clear-cut chances for the Cape side, with the exception of an Isaacs shot from outside the box which fizzed past the upright.
As the half wore on though, the Team of Choice began to show more threat up front, earning several corners as they put the Santos defence under pressure, largely through the hard running of Diyo Sibisi.
However, as the game headed past the half-hour mark, the match swung the other way again, as Santos came close with several attempts in front of goal.
In the 33rd minute, Santos midfielder Jurie Basie side-footed just wide from 14-yards out, and then a minute later Tawonga Chimodzi had his effort deflected just wide after being teed up by Salmaan King.
In the 36th minute King was almost on the score-sheet himself, but saw his shot with the outside of his left foot tipped over by Maritzburg goalkeeper Shu-aib Walters.
It took a while for the first real chance of the second half to arrive, with Walters again doing superbly to keep out Chimodzi's 30-yard shot in the 57th minute.
Three minutes later the Cape-born keeper was at it again, this time showing great athletic ability to tip Eleazar Rodgers' lob over the bar.
With 70 minutes on the clock the Peoples' Team were forced to change goal keepers as injury saw Ryan Harrison replacing Tshepo Motseoneng.
Again Walters was the thorn in the Santos flesh, this time turning over Isaacs' superb 83rd minute free kick.
Maritzburg had some good possession late on, but their best chance saw Fadlu Davids heading wide.
Finally though, with extra time looming and only 40 seconds left on the clock, Isaacs won the game for Santos with a brilliant dipping volley.
