Mabena strike sees off Royal AM

Polokwane City climbed into the top half of the DStv Premiership table after they claimed a deserved 1-0 victory over Royal AM at the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday evening.

Former Orlando Pirates striker Ndumiso Mabena scored his first goal for his new club on the stroke of halftime, which proved to be the difference on the day, although Lehlohonolo Seema's side struck the woodwork three times and could have come away with more than just the one goal.

A third win in seven games for newly-promoted Rise And Shine took them up to seventh position in the standings, two points ahead of Thwihli Thwahla, who have now lost two on the spin in the DStv Premiership.

Both teams were winless in their last two games, with Polokwane holding AmaZulu to a 0-0 draw on Monday, while Royal AM suffered a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Sekhukhune United last time out.

There were plenty of chances in the first half and the hosts threatened to break the deadlock after just six minutes when Oswin Appollis drew a fine save out of Zakahle Ngcobo with a strike from inside the box.

Thwihli Thwahla had their first sniff at goal six minutes later as Mxolisi Macuphu lashed a shot over the crossbar after being picked out by Sabelo Sithole inside the area before Ngcobo was called into action again to prevent Mokibelo Ramabu's effort from sneaking in at his near post on 21 minutes.

The visitors carved out two opportunities in quick succession when Macuphu dragged a shot wide of the far post from a tight angle on the right in the 24th minute and Thabo Matlaba saw his attempt fly narrowly to the left of the goal from range soon afterward.

Douglas Mapfumo presented Appollis with a glorious chance to open the scoring from a cross in the 26th minute, but the