Stellenbosch FC advanced to the quarter-finals of the Carling Knockout competition after recording a 2-1 win over Chippa United in Gqeberha on Saturday.

Stellies’ pursuit of silverware continued on Wednesday when the club emerged victorious from their Carling Knockout Round of 16 clash against Chippa United, courtesy of goals from Andre de Jong and Kgaogelo Sekgota.

Steve Barker’s side dominated proceedings during the opening half an hour and twice came close to opening the scoring through Devin Titus and Iqraam Rayners, with the duo only denied by the sharp goalkeeping of Lloyd Kazapua.

The Maroons were ultimately unable to find the breakthrough before the half-time whistle, but emerged from the interval with a renewed vigour that was quickly rewarded shortly after the restart.

Kazapua again denied Titus the opener but could do little to stop New Zealand international Andre de Jong from tapping home the rebound to fire Stellies into a well-deserved lead.

One became two less than 10 minutes later when Rayners found Kgaogelo Sekgota inside the box, and the mercurial winger made no mistake to fire home his first goal since joining the club at the start of the season.

The hosts then looked to respond and hit back quickly through a free-kick from Menzi Ndwandwe who pulled one back with just over an hour played on the club.

That goal proved to be inconsequential in the grand scheme of things as Stellies defended manfully, with Ismael Toure particularly standing out by putting his body on the line, to deny Chippa United an equaliser and secure a spot in the next round.

Saturday’s win was further sweetened for Rayners who walked away with the Man of the Match award and the lucrative R100 000.00 reward offered by the tournament organisers.