SuperSport United secured a crucial 2-1 win against Al Hilal Benghazi in a CAF Confederation Cup match marred by controversy at the Peter Mokaba Stadium on Wednesday night.
The win gave United some hopes of a knockout stage qualification despite still languishing at the bottom of the log.
United made 10 changes from the team that won 2-1 against Moroka Swallows in the DStv Premiership on Friday. It didn’t take long before Selaelo Rasebotja repaid the faith shown by coach Gavin Hunt and slotted home the opener in the 11th minute.
SUPERSPORT UNITED SECURE CRUCIAL WIN IN POLOKWANE
The match was marred by tensions between the two sets of players over the match officials from the beginning.
The visitors applied some pressure on the home side and were eventually rewarded in the 22nd minute. Striker Mohamed Salim’s shot from inside the box beat keeper Washington Arubi to make it 1-1.
RED CARD FOR WASHINGTON ARUBI
There was controversy on the half-hour mark when SuperSport goalkeeper Washington Arubi was shown a red card. This came after he was first cautioned with a yellow card for handling the ball outside of the 18-area box. To everyone’s surprise, the Gabonese referee Patrice Mebiame gave Arubi a second yellow a few seconds later after protests from the Al Hilal players.
United were forced to make changes and brought on Ricardo Goss for Risen Albert.
Matsatsantsa nearly reclaimed the lead but a Shandre Campbell long-range attempt with five minutes remaining was not enough to cause any harm for the Al Hilal keeper.
SuperSport came back into the second half fired up and nearly scored through Phathutshedzo Nange. But his chip shot went wide with Hilal keeper Khleid beaten.
RED CARD FOR AL HILAL BENGHAZI
The visitors were also reduced to 10 men when Ahmed Mohamed was given a red card for a serious foul on Phathutshedzo Nange.
The referee was once again in the spotlight with some poor decisions resulting in frustrations from the two benches.
Etiosa Ighodaro secured the much-needed three points for the home side with five minutes remaining.
RELATED STORY: Gavin Hunt reveals CAF experience’s impact on SuperSport
