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Mbombela - The impressive Aubrey Ngoma scored the winning penalty kick to hand Mpumalanga Black Aces a 4-3 over Bidvest Wits in the exciting second semi-final match of the Mbombela Cup and book a final place against Platinum Stars.
The match had ended 3-3 in regulation time.
This will be a second meeting in a final of a pre-season tournament after Dikwena edged Amazayoni 1-0 in the final of the Maize Challenge played in Rustenburg a fortnight ago.
Black Aces got off to a flying start as skipper Eddie Ngalo connected with a beautiful free kick from Ngoma for the opener four minutes into the match.
Wits bounced back in the seventh minute as a shot from Henrico Botes took a bounce and beat Bafana Nhlapho in goals for Aces.
The goal seemed to get the best out of the two sides with both producing more goal scoring chances while the match also saw some committed defensive tackles.
Aces then took the lead again through Collins Mbesuma, who was unselfishly set-up by the heavily-involved Ngoma, to put the Muhsin Ertugral’s side ahead for the second time in the match in the 20th minute.
Nhlapho pulled off a great save as the match approached the half hour mark to deny Wits the equaliser.
But the Gavin Hunt’s side were never demotivated and kept pushing until they were rewarded in the 27th minute with Botes getting his brace of the match from the penalty spot.
The outstanding Ngoma’s thriller reclaimed the lead for Aces to put the game at 3-2 just before the half-time break.
The second stanza of the match was as exciting as the first half, and Bhongolwethu Jayiya had a good chance to make things difficult for Wits, but Moeneeb Josephs was quick from his line to make a save.
Aces managed to deal with the pressure from Wits towards the end of the match and their perseverance paid off equalising with just few minutes to the final whistle to take the match to penalties after a 3-3 final score.
