Captain of Westville, Kyan Braithwaite with support from Lwando Saunders
Westville started the game very well and looked ominously threatening in the opening stages. They had two clear-cut chances in the first fifteen minutes of the game – the first coming off a Westville free kick which was played into the Glenwood box, and was met by Bradley Smith who headed the ball square across the box to Kyan Braithwaite, whose own header narrowly missed the target. The second was when Westville winger Sipesihle Mhlamvu latched onto a bad, back pass from the Glenwood defence, leaving him one on one with the Glenwood goal keeper, only to put his effort wide of the left upright. Twenty minutes into the game, Glenwood began to gain confidence from Westville’s near misses, and started to play better football . Their midfield created some good interchange football, but created very few goal scoring opportunities. Overall, the teams were fairly well matched, and went into the break with the score 0-0, after an eventful first half.
Westville lost some defensive shape at the start of the second half and were made to pay for this in the 47th minute when Glenwood took the lead through a well taken goal by their striker, who beat two Westville defenders before calmly chipping the ball past Jesse Smit Westville goal keeper. This seemed to spark some life into the Westville players, and a minute later, in the 48th minute, they equalized, after finally taking advantage of one of their trademark, long throw-ins. Westville’s left back Ibraheem Vahed threw the ball to the back post where it was met by Tony Mahlangu, who tapped it in for a simple finish to make the score 1-1. Westville started to turn up the heat in the final fifteen minutes of the game and took the lead in the 54th minute, when Tony Mahlangu won the ball on the half way line, beat a Glenwood defender before chipping the ball over the Glenwood defense for right winger Shane Ball to chip the ball calmly over the Glenwood goal keeper for a beautifully taken finish, making the score 2-1. Westville scored their third goal in the 58th minute when Tony Mahlangu stole the ball from a Glenwood defender deep in Glenwood territory, and slotted the ball into the bottom right corner to make it 3-1. They then made it 4-1 in the 60th minute when Shane Ball crossed the ball in from the right flank for Kyan Braithwaite to volley home, and seal an emphatic Westville win.
Westville played some good football in patches and it was the pressure that was applied on the Glenwood side that was the difference between the sides. They squeezed the life out of the Glenwood team, and the flood gates opened in the last fifteen minutes of the game, when Westville scored three quick fire goal.