In their Vodacom Promotional League match which was played at the Malamulele Stadium on Saturday, FC Basel continued to donate league points to their opponents, following their 0-2 defeat at the hands of the defending champions, Baroka FC.
Baroka's two goals were scored by Thabiso Kutumela. Basel effected an early change to their starting line-up. They replaced Maanda Mbadi with Reason Maluleke 18 minutes into the game. It was only after the replacement that they started to play like a team. Their midfielder-cum-striker, Toney Lewele, could not live up to the fans' expectations as he was well contained.
It took the visitors from Sekhukhune 36 minutes to open their account. Their sweeper, Johannes Ramatsela, forced his way through the defence of Basel and shared his fortune with Thabiso Kutumela, who was in a perfect scoring position. Kutumela tapped in the ball to give his side a 1-0 lead when the referee, Deon Mphuma, blew the half-time whistle.
The second half saw Baroka introduce three new faces. Thabang Moyaha, Francis Baloyi and David Moseri came on for Booi Pilusa, Legohu Ntsiane and Hlabane Kutumela respectively. Shandukani Mulovhedzi of Basel was warned with a card for a late tackle on Gift Motupa.
Basel regrouped from behind and created promising moves from the centre of the pitch, but it was not their day. Baroka increased the margin in the 76th minute. Thabiso Kutumela received a neat pass from Johannes Ramatsela and beat the Basel keeper, Rembuluwani Mbedzi, with a ground cutter.