Jerome River Bank booked a place in the semifinal stage of the prestigious SAFA Vhembe Total Challenge by beating Tshifhire Northern Brothers 2-1 at the FNB Makwarela Stadium on Sunday.
River Bank were out of touch in the first 20 minutes of the game.
They later gained momentum. Brothers' killer striker, Edgar "Ferreira" Molewa, did not live up to the fans' expectations as he was tightly marked. Instead of replacing him at the end of the first half, the technical staff of Brothers allowed Molewa to be part of the game to the finish although he was harmless.
The score was still 0-0 at the end of the first half, despite numerous attempts by the Brothers' frontrunners. Jerome strengthened their midfielders by replacing Ronald Hlongwane with Musa Novela in the 57th minute. They were awarded a free kick just outside the box three minutes after the introduction of Novela.
Rungulani Khosa emerged from nowhere and beat the offside trap to open the River Bank's account. Jerome started to play defensive football soon afterwards and relied mostly on counterattacks. The strategy worked for them as they managed to score their second goal in the 74th minute.
Rungulani Khosa dribbles past three Brothers' defenders in a row before dishing a square pass to Sydwell Sombane, who was in the perfect scoring position. Sombane unleashed a ground cutter from inside the box, beating the diminutive keeper, Phathu Muanalo.
Northern Brothers did not stop fighting, despite the fact that time was not on their side. Their consolation goal came in the 84th minute. Mphariseni Neluvhada, who came on as a substitute, was on target after a scramble within the box. Edgar Molewa wasted an obvious scoring opportunity two minutes before the final whistle.