TUT claim Varsity Football honours
Although a new Varsity Football champion was crowned last week, Pretoria can still boast as the home of the champions.
The long-awaited Varsity Football final took place last week, where Wits University hosted the Tshwane University of Technology at a packed Bidvest Stadium in Johannesburg.
The hosts were in their first ever final, having previously stumbled at the semi-final stages. TUT on the other hand, managed to secure the title in 2016 and lost out in the 2017 final at the hands of their Pretoria rivals Tuks.
The match got underway after the great fireworks display prior to kick off, and it was the visitors that set the field alight first, looking very dominant with the Witsies often depending on counter attacking moves inside the first 20 minutes.
Just past the 22nd minute, the Witsies struck first, when captain Tshireletso Motsogi evaded a TUT defender to head past Sikhumbuzo Ncube and send the home support into a frenzy as they celebrated an early lead.
With the score at 1-0, Wits continued to surge forward in search of a second, with the crowd spurring them on. Nothing came of it in the end, with TUT eventually finishing the half with a few opportunities of their own going wide, which meant Wits went into the break leading 1-0.
The second half was more of an open affair, with both sides slogging away at each other’s defences.
Wits kept ahold of their clean sheet until just after the 15th minute mark, where TUT found themselves in space inside the Wits box. The Wits defenders failed to clear their lines and the ball fell at the feet of Godfrey Mahlala, who made no mistake slotting it past Wits shot stopper Matthew Carelse to level matters at 1-1.
The rest of the game produced plenty of action, with the ball moving in both directions at a rapid pace.
The last 20 minutes saw TUT push Wits back in their half but the hosts stood strong until just before the 90-minute mark, when an unmarked Collen Vilakazi calmly headed his side into the lead with just three minutes additional time remaining.
In the end, it was enough for TUT to bag their second Varsity Football title, coming out 2-1 winners.
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