Cape Town - Cape Town City succumbed to a 1-0 loss at the hands of Free State Stars on Wednesday night during their Absa Premiership match at Goble Park Stadium.
The only goal of the tie came through a penalty strike by Thokozani Sekotlong in the second half.
Resulting from this defeat, the City Boyz now move to number two behind Bidvest Wits with 25 points from 15 matches.
The match had a slow start, but in the fourth minute the visitors showed their intentions when Bongolethu Jayiya tried a shot at goal only to be denied by goalkeeper Thela Ngobeni as he saved to concede a corner.
Despite both sides failing to use their chances, it was Makhehleni Makhaula's shot that came in the 24th minute which nearly troubled keeper Shu-Aib Walters, but he parried away from goal.
The dying minutes of the opening half were dominated by fouls and set pieces with no clear cut chances to break the deadlock.
It was 0-0 at the interval.
Upon their return, the hosts tried to find the back of the net as early into the second stanza when Makhaula saw his shot misjudged by Walters, who collected on his second attempt in the 52nd minute.
However, Ea Lla Koto's efforts were rewarded with 12 minutes to go when Danny Venter was fouled in the box by Robyn Johannes.
The referee pointed to the spot and the in-form Sekotlong converted as he beat Walters, handing the hosts a 1-0 lead.
With nine minutes to go, Mpho Matsi was shown his second yellow card following a foul on Sekotlong, reducing City to 10 men.
In the end, Eric Tinkler's men could not penetrate the hosts as they managed to hang on to their lead taking the full three points.
For the Bethlehem-based outfit, the win means Giovanni Solinas' men move to the 14th spot with as many points from 14 rounds of league matches thus far.