Golden Arrows 1–4 Cape Town City: Lakay hat-trick maintains Citizen's fine form

Cape Town City continued with their winning ways as they beat Golden Arrows 4-1 in their Premier Soccer League (PSL) clash on Saturday evening at Ellis Park Stadium.

A hat-trick from Fagrie Lakay and a solitary strike from Tashreeq Morris handed the 2017/18 MTN8 champions the full three points to see them move to seventh spot from 28 games with 39 points.

Resulting from their fourth defeat since the restart, Arrows occupies 11th spot with 33 points and has two remaining games on their programme.

Fresh from two consecutive losses against Black Leopards and Mamelodi Sundowns, Abafana Bes’thende were under enormous pressure to secure a win and move up the log table.

On the other hand, the Mother City-based club has had a mixed bag of results, they lost to Stellenbosch before overcoming Orlando Pirates last weekend, but their mission was to qualify for the top eight.

Despite a slow start in Johannesburg, the Citizens broke the deadlock when Devine Lunga failed to clear the ball, and Lakay capitalized when he beat goalkeeper Sifiso Mlungwana on his right corner in the ninth minute.

In two minutes, Lakay completed his brace when a rebound fell on his path, he stunned Mlungwana on the near post from a deflected cross, to make it 2-0 to Arrows.

City enjoyed dominance in the midfield and in the 34th minute, Arrows came close to pulling one goal back but Siyabonga Dube saw his shot sailing wide for a goal-kick.

However, coach Jan Olde Riekerink’s charges were dealt a massive blow when striker Kermit Erasmus was substituted for Morris with 10 minutes to the interval.

Arrows would have a shot on target in the 41st minute through Seth Parusnath from the edge of the box, as his effort was easily collected by keeper Peter Leeuwenburgh.

With one minute left to half-time, a real opportunity came for Mduduzi Mdantsane who made a run into the box, but the shot was blocked by Mlungwana who read the situation well.

City went to the dressing leading 2-0. The visitors continued to control the proceedings in the heart of the park in the 56th minute and following an interchange of passes, Mdantsane was fouled on the edge of the penalty area, but the set-piece was easily blocked, allowing Mlungwana to collect the follow-up shot.

In the 63rd minute, City ensured they cemented their lead when Morris finished Bradley Ralani's pass whose brilliant play on the left flank set up the lanky striker to make it 3-0.

Forward Knox Mutizwa managed to pull a consolation goal for the hosts in the 74th minute to score his 13th goal of the season with a superb free-kick to beat Leeuwenburgh on his right corner.

Arrows regained their confidence and Parusnath nearly caught Leeuwenburgh napping in the 83rd minute with a thunderbolt, but the 26-year-old netminder was equal to the task to punch the long-range shot away for a corner.

In search of their second goal, midfielder Gladwin Shitolo could have made it 3-2 in injury time, his first touch was clever but he failed to connect with the ball to unleash a powerful shot.

On the opposite half, skipper Thamsanqa Mkhize who came from the bench was fouled in the box and Lakay blasted from the spot to complete his hat-trick as City clinched their 10th victory of the season.