AmaZulu and Royal AM played to a 1-1 entertaining draw in the DStv Premiership at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday evening.
Ruzaigh Gamildien opened the scoring, putting Thwihli Thwahla in the lead while Bonginkosi Ntuli bagged an equaliser for the hosts, denying John Maduka a second league victory since he returned.
The last time the two teams met was on 08 January 2022 where Thwihli Thwahla got the better of AmaZulu with a 2-0 win.
Usuthu came to the match seeking to redeem themselves having suffered a 2-1 home defeat at the hands of TS Galaxy in their previous league outing. On the other hand, Royal AM played a 1-1 draw with SuperSport United in their last league match.
The early stages of the game saw the referee pausing the match due to bad lighting at the stadium. The game then proceeded after an over 10 minute wait.
While exchanging jabs in the midfield, both teams were looking to get an early goal just after the game restarted.
AmaZulu later started to dictate the match, enjoying the lion’s share of possession and they threatened Hugo Nyame’s goal posts a couple of times. Royal AM were defending deep and looking to hurt the home side on a counter-attack.
In the 43rd minute, AM should have grabbed a lead when Shaune Mogaila failed to control the ball, missing a chance to tap into an empty net. Thembela Sikhakhane came to the rescue of Usuthu, clearing the ball away from the dangerous zone.
The match went to half-time with a goalless scoreline on the board.
GAMILDIEN PUT ROYAL AM IN FRONT
In the 52nd minute, Royal AM broke the deadlock through Ruzaigh Gamildien who had received a through pass from Mogaila. A minute later, AmaZulu thought they had levelled matters via Hendrick Ekstein, however, he was adjudged to have been offside.
The visitors found even more confidence and started to enjoy more ball possession than Romain Folz’s troops.
At times, Usuthu tried to fight back but were denied box entries by solid Royal AM’s defence.
NTULI LEVELED MATTERS
In the 87th minute while the away side thought they had wrapped up the game, Ntuli came out of nowhere and unleashed a thumping shot outside the box to salvage a point for Usuthu.
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