As the Betway Premiership survival race continues, Siwelele dented Magesi’s chances of staying in the division following a gritty 1-0 win at the Dr Molemela Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

A late effort by Sphesihle Jeza saw Siwelele return to the winning column this week while Magesi slumped to their third straight defeat. In addition to their woes, Magesi remained at the bottom of the log, three points away from the safe zone ahead of their final league clash against Richards Bay next weekend.

Following a relatively slow start to proceedings at the Dr Molemela Stadium, Neo Rapoo had the first sight at goal with a left-footed strike inside the Magesi box that went wide of the mark.

While Siwelele attacked, Sifiso Luthuli created Magesi’s first notable scoring chance of the match in the 21st minute, calling Ricardo Goss into action with a shot inside the box. Amid a relatively timid pace to the game, there was nothing to separate the two sides midway through the first 45.

The home side gathered steam en-route to the half-hour mark and began asserting themselves in the ball possession statistics. Nyiko Mobbie and Sphesihle Jeza noted decent chances of their own but failed to make their efforts stick.

Magesi were first out of the blocks at the restart, particularly when Edmore Chirambadare came close to scoring in the 53rd minute with a left-footed shot inside the area following a rapid counter attack.

Siwelele came agonisingly close to opening the scoresheet moments before the hour-mark as Manelis Mazibuko’s close range header went wide of the mark soon after a well-worked passing move toward goal.

The Bloem side saw up to 63 per cent of the ball with around 70 minutes on the clock but were unable to make the most of their possession as Magesi sat back, hoping to create a counter-attacking situation.

Siwelele managed to break the deadlock in the 77th minute after winning a corner as Sphesihle Jeza found himself in the right place at the right time to guide home a shot from close quarters.

Siwelele sa Masokolara looked comfortable in possession as the clock ticked down in Bloemfontein with Magesi having little to show for their attacking advancements. Nonetheless, Siwelele did enough to see out the game unscathed as they secured a narrow win at home.

Siwelele: (0) 1 (Jeza 77’)

Magesi: 0

Siwelele: Goss, Rapoo, Ndebele, Mobbie, Mfolozi, Maku (Letshedi 81’), Margeman (Moralo 89’), Potsane, Mazibuko (Ngwato 58’), Jeza (Moloisane 81’), Lungu

Magesi: Chipezeze, Ndlozi, Mofokeng, Mokone, Nyama, Chirambadare (Seseane 66’), Mariba (Matima 58’), Vandala (Baloyi 82’), Darpoh (Raphadu 66’), Luthuli, Sibanyoni (Mtshali 46’)