Durban - Golden Arrows bounced back with a 3-2 victory over Polokwane City on Saturday, following their heavy defeat at the hands of the defending champions in their last fixture.
The fourth round’s weekend fixtures of the DStv Premiership kicked off at the King Zwelithini Stadium where Golden Arrows hosted Polokwane City.
The visitors went into the clash having accumulated six points in their first three league games, while the home team were two points behind the visitors after suffering a 4-0 mauling to defending champions Mamelodi Sundowns.
It promised to be an enticing clash as Arrows needed to redeem themselves, while Polokwane City looked to carry on their good form having registered back-to-back victories in the league.
Living up to expectations
The clash certainly lived up to the expectation as the visitors went 1-0 up 12-minutes into the match through Douglas Mapfumo.
Polokwane City’s lead was short-lived as the home team equalised through a great finish from Nduduzo Sibiya a minute after the visitors took the lead to mark a timely response.
That goal from Arrows seemed to revamp their attitude and gave them a new-found fighting spirit so much so that they took the lead in the 22nd minute of the encounter.
Striker Lungelo Nguse connected well as the ball was crossed in from the near side and eventually beat goalkeeper Lindokuhle Mathebula.
Having forced a corner a little over ten minutes away from the half-time whistle, defender Themba Mantshiyane scored through a brilliant header to extend Arrows’ lead to 3-1.
Coach Vusumuzi Vilakazi’s Golden Arrows held on to their lead and saw off the first-half with a two-goal lead intact.
In the second-half however, the visitors were much more determined and it showed in their eight goal attempts to Arrows’ two.
Four of the eight shots at goal by Polokwane City were on target and one was successfully converted by Lebohang Nkaki eight minutes into the second-half.
The visitors maintained high intensity and pressure throughout the second-half and forced multiple errors from the home side but at the end, man of the match Angelo Van Rooi and his teammates hung on to take all three points.
As a result, Arrows have finally cracked into the top with seven points in four league matches while Polokwane City dropped to sixth place.