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The opening minutes of the match saw the visiting team full of urgency and on the attack from the get go. Their hurried approach, however, saw them unable to keep hold of the ball for sustained periods of play. Still, the Birds created the better of the chances in the first half.
That first chance coming in the 15th minute after a swift counter-attack by Swallows saw Siyabonga Nomvethe in some space on the left hand side of the field. He drove towards the box and unleashed a powerful shot from the edge of the area that saw Darren Keet at full stretch to his left to tip the effort around the post.
Swallows' next opportunity to open the scoring came in the 28th minute and again the chance fell to Nomvethe. Koketso Mmotong whipped in an inviting corner-kick and found the Birds' talisman unmarked at the front post, but his header was a poor one and sailed narrowly over the crossbar.
Things just didn’t seem to be happening for Swallows and besides the early couple of chances, they were unable to really create decent goal-scoring opportunities.
Wits, on the other hand, although they started slowly, started to find their feet in the game which actually resulted in them having the majority of the possession in the first half. Still, they did not use it as the coach would have hoped for.
In fact, their only real chance of the game came in the second minute of added time in the first half. Sibusiso Vilakazi let rip from about 30-yards with a thunderbolt of a shot, but Aubrey Mathib was up to the challenge and made a fantastic save diving full stretch to his left to push the effort over the crossbar.
The second half saw Swallows coming out the changeroom a revived side after filtering away at the end of the first half.
They began passing the ball around beautifully and again it was Nomvethe in the 47th minute who made the Wits keeper earn his pay cheque. Some neat work by the Birds striker saw him beat two players before he fired a low shot that had Keet diving low to his left to make a finger-tip save.
Thereafter Swallows continued to dominate play and it was only inevitable that they found the game’s opening goal which came in the 63rd minute from the penalty spot.
The referee adjudged Koketso Mmotong to have been pulled down inside the box and Nomvethe made no mistake from the spot with a clinical finish to give his side the lead, 1-0.
Nomvethe should really have wrapped up matters 12 minutes later when a cross from the right wing found him unmarked inside the box, but his side-footed shot just skimmed the wrong side of the upright.
Three minutes later and a similar move from the left wing by Swallows saw a cross find Auguston Leonard unmarked inside the 18-yard area, but much like his team-mate, his shot went inches wide of the target.
Swallows were almost made to pay for their missed opportunities when the referee awarded one of the softest penalties the Absa Premiership has ever seen five minutes from time for some shirt tugging inside the box. Justice, however, was served when David De Oliveira struck the woodwork with the penalty kick and the ball bounced out of play.
In the end the Birds were able to hold on for a well-deserved win, their first of the 2010/11 league campaign.
