AmaZulu's Siphamandla Zikhali and Durban City's Thabo Ndoda go for the ball during their Betway Premiership match.
Durban City's dream season ended on a deeply disappointing note after suffering a tense 1–0 defeat to coastal rivals AmaZulu in the final match of the season at home at the Chatsworth Stadium on Saturday — a result that saw Durban finish the league campaign on a gruelling 10-game winless drought.
The opening minutes of the clash looked like a quintessential matchday at Chatsworth, with the Blues completely swarming all over Usuthu. The home side's midfield unit and dynamic wingers did exceptionally well to cut past the AmaZulu backline and ask highly dangerous questions of the visitors' defence.
Conversely, AmaZulu's solitary option to transition into attack was limited to long aerial balls — which Siphamandla Ncanana and Mfanafuthi Mkhize dealt with comfortably and effectively.
Usuthu finally consolidated tactical control around the 20-minute mark and started pushing forward into the final third with some slick, sequential passing. AmaZulu quickly seized the momentum, swinging the contest back in their favour and missing two clear-cut chances at goal in a rapid sequence.
