Cape Town City came out on top in the Cape derby when they edged PSL newcomers Stellenbosch 1-0 at Athlone Stadium on Saturday.
Chris David finished off a great team move to give City the lead after seven minutes.
But that as good as it got for the hosts as they wasted chance after chance to end Stellenbosch’s challenge.
City created enough to be able to rack up the type of score that would have underlined their publicly- announced PSL title ambitions.
However, Kermit Erasmus, Gift Links, Zukile Kewuti and Bradley Ralani couldn't make find the killer instinct after punching holes through Steve Barker’s team.
The game followed that pattern for pretty much the whole game before two late chances for Stellenbosch when Kewuti had to clear off the line in the 74th minute.
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— Cape Town City FC (@CapeTownCityFC)
And only the upright of Peter Leewenburgh’s goal saved them from being denied the full three points when Waseem Isaacs hit the woodwork with three minutes to go.
City coach Benni McCarthy celebrated wildly after the final whistle following some touchline beef, but he played it down to the passion of the derby, saying: “What’s the point of being in a derby. It’s fearsome.
DERBY BATTLE: Cape sides battled in the derby at Athlone Stadium. Photo: Ryan Wilkisky/BackpagePix.
“That’s why when you win, you show these emotions.
“We made it a bit harder for ourselves. The football we played was remarkable.
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/pleeuwenburgh?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@pleeuwenburgh
City’s keeper beaming after yet another derby win and clean sheet! 💙
— Cape Town City FC (@CapeTownCityFC)
“It’s just a shame we didn’t make use of the chances we created and we didn’t score enough goals to put the game to bed.
“Because there was one team on the pitch.
"The Cape derby is out of the way and there was only one team in it.”