Woodwork comes to Maritzburg's rescue

Cape Town - Chippa United were twice denied by the woodwork at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium and had to settle for a 0-0 draw against Maritzburg United.

The Chilli Boys had the first effort on goal after 10 minutes, but after some good work by Mark Mayambela, Lerato Manzini failed to hit the target.

Mayambela went for goal himself 17 minutes later, but again the shot flew wide of goal.

Maritzburg keeper Richard Ofori had his first save of the night to make just after the half-hour mark when he kept out Kurt Lentjies' shot from outside the box.

Mayambela came agonisingly close to breaking the deadlock eight minutes into the second period when he fired a free-kick into the crossbar.

Maritzburg began to find some rhythm to their play and with Chippa also intent on attacking, the game opened up and provided some good end-to-end action.

The woodwork once more came to the visitors' rescue when Samuel Julies' shot 10 minutes from time hit the bar.

Sheldon van Wyk had an injury-time shot on goal for Maritzburg, but Chippa keeper Daniel Akpeyi made the save to ensure the visitors did not steal the points.