Cape Town City came crashing down to earth as they lost their first PSL game, going down 2-1 to Baroka on Wednesday night.
City set up to play on the counter with two shielding midfielders Roland Putsche and Mpho Matsi stationed ahead of the defence and a pacy frontline.
But coach Benni McCarthy’s manne found themselves 2-0 down in the first 20 minutes as they failed to deal with set-pieces.
Baroka opened the scoring in the sixth minute when Mpho Kgaswane powered home a header.
And before City could find their feet again, they were trailing by another goal, when Matome Kgoetyane got the slightest touch to an inswinging free-kick in the 20th minute.
After the game, coach Benni said: “We started out sluggishly and what we are usually so good at was our weakness – defending set-pieces. We conceded from a corner and a free-kick. But no excuses.
“Baroka looked like a team hungry for three points and we looked like we were still enjoying our performance against SuperSport [2-0 win].”
City had their chances to get back in the game in the second half, with new boy Siphelele Mthembu registering his maiden goal for the club from the bench, prodding home from close range after a counter.
Skipper Thami Mkhize created a number of chances with his crosses from the right flank, but substitute Allan Kateregga failed to hit the
target with their best chance to equalise late on.
PSL results:
Highlands Park 2 B Leopards 2, Arrows 0 Bloem Celtic 2, SuperSport 1 AmaZulu 0, FS Stars 2 Maritzburg 1, Chippa 0 Pirates 1.