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Soweto - A second half brace from veteran striker Siyabonga Nomvethe handed Moroka Swallows a 2-0 win over Jomo Cosmos in an Absa Premiership match at Dobsonville Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
It was not the most entertaining first half as neither of the two teams were able to break the deadlock in the opening 45 minutes. Instead, the half was characterised by some poor passing and bad decision making in the final third of the field.
The team largely responsible for this was the Dube Birds who controlled the possession stakes and the flow of the play. Cosmos, on the other hand, struggled to get hold of the ball as Swallows mounted attack after attack.
And while the Birds were unable to create any real decent chances in front of goal in the first stanza, they certainly started brightly and should really have taken the lead in the ninth minute.
Joseph Mkhanya pulled the best out of the Cosmos keeper with a fine 30-yard shot that saw Abisai Shiningayamwe acrobatically fling himself across the face of the goal to make the save, but while he stopped the shot he palmed the ball straight into the path of Bennett Chenene who shot wide from close range.
Sadly, that was about as good as it got as neither team seemed to have the imagination that would break down their opponents defence.
The only other real chance of the half came in the 18th minute from a 25-yard free-kick. Lerato Chanbangu, though, would have felt a little hard done by as it was his shot that beat the defensive wall and skimmed the right-hand post with the keeper well beaten.
Neither side would have entered the halftime break happy as Gordon Igesund’s men would have been disappointed in their performance in the final third of the field; while Jomo Sono would have been upset with the amount of defending his side had to do.
The second 45 did see the visitors start a little more brightly and they forced Greg Etafia into his first save eleven minutes into the second stanza.
Katlego Loke made his way into the box after beating a couple of defenders, but his 14-yard shot was superbly saved by the Birds’ keeper as he strongly palmed the ball over the crossbar.
Sadly, that was about as good as it got for Cosmos who soon went back into their shells as they seemed content to sit back in defence and hold onto a draw.
But it was not to be as a period of five minutes saw Nomvethe score two goals to hand his side the three points.
First in the 72nd minute Nomvethe latched onto a loose ball in a goal mouth scramble and fired the ball home from six-yards out to claim a scrappy goal, 1-0.
Then five minutes later and Nomvethe found his second goal, and there was was nothing scrappy about this goal.
Substitute David Mathebula drove down the left flank and made his way into the box before supplying a low pin-point cross to find Nomvethe unmarked inside the six-yard area, and he made no mistake side-footing the ball home, 2-0.
The win sees the Birds up to fourth on the league table while the loss for Cosmos sees them hold up the bottom of the table.
Scorers:
Moroka Swallows (0) 2 (Nomvethe 72’+77’)
Jomo Cosmos (0) 0
Teams:
Swallows: Etafia; Isaacs, Hendricks, Mungomeni, Mayinga, Sibaya, Tsutsulupa (Mathebula 64’), Chabangu (Khumalo 65’), Chenene, Nomvethe, Makhanya (Machapa 74’)
Cosmos: Shingingayamwe; Kobal, Appiah, Shabalala, Nonyane, Pila (Dondo 82’), Nhlapho, Tukane, Ngwerume (Maebela 72’), Loke (Theletsane 70’), Nontshinga
It was not the most entertaining first half as neither of the two teams were able to break the deadlock in the opening 45 minutes. Instead, the half was characterised by some poor passing and bad decision making in the final third of the field.
The team largely responsible for this was the Dube Birds who controlled the possession stakes and the flow of the play. Cosmos, on the other hand, struggled to get hold of the ball as Swallows mounted attack after attack.
And while the Birds were unable to create any real decent chances in front of goal in the first stanza, they certainly started brightly and should really have taken the lead in the ninth minute.
Joseph Mkhanya pulled the best out of the Cosmos keeper with a fine 30-yard shot that saw Abisai Shiningayamwe acrobatically fling himself across the face of the goal to make the save, but while he stopped the shot he palmed the ball straight into the path of Bennett Chenene who shot wide from close range.
Sadly, that was about as good as it got as neither team seemed to have the imagination that would break down their opponents defence.
The only other real chance of the half came in the 18th minute from a 25-yard free-kick. Lerato Chanbangu, though, would have felt a little hard done by as it was his shot that beat the defensive wall and skimmed the right-hand post with the keeper well beaten.
Neither side would have entered the halftime break happy as Gordon Igesund’s men would have been disappointed in their performance in the final third of the field; while Jomo Sono would have been upset with the amount of defending his side had to do.
The second 45 did see the visitors start a little more brightly and they forced Greg Etafia into his first save eleven minutes into the second stanza.
Katlego Loke made his way into the box after beating a couple of defenders, but his 14-yard shot was superbly saved by the Birds’ keeper as he strongly palmed the ball over the crossbar.
Sadly, that was about as good as it got for Cosmos who soon went back into their shells as they seemed content to sit back in defence and hold onto a draw.
But it was not to be as a period of five minutes saw Nomvethe score two goals to hand his side the three points.
First in the 72nd minute Nomvethe latched onto a loose ball in a goal mouth scramble and fired the ball home from six-yards out to claim a scrappy goal, 1-0.
Then five minutes later and Nomvethe found his second goal, and there was was nothing scrappy about this goal.
Substitute David Mathebula drove down the left flank and made his way into the box before supplying a low pin-point cross to find Nomvethe unmarked inside the six-yard area, and he made no mistake side-footing the ball home, 2-0.
The win sees the Birds up to fourth on the league table while the loss for Cosmos sees them hold up the bottom of the table.
Scorers:
Moroka Swallows (0) 2 (Nomvethe 72’+77’)
Jomo Cosmos (0) 0
Teams:
Swallows: Etafia; Isaacs, Hendricks, Mungomeni, Mayinga, Sibaya, Tsutsulupa (Mathebula 64’), Chabangu (Khumalo 65’), Chenene, Nomvethe, Makhanya (Machapa 74’)
Cosmos: Shingingayamwe; Kobal, Appiah, Shabalala, Nonyane, Pila (Dondo 82’), Nhlapho, Tukane, Ngwerume (Maebela 72’), Loke (Theletsane 70’), Nontshinga
