Stellies advance to Next Gen final with win over Crystal Palace
The Stellenbosch FC reserve team advanced to the final of the Premier League Next Generation Cup after recording a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon.
Stellenbosch maintained their perfect record at the Premier League Next Generation Cup after recording a third consecutive 1-0 victory, downing Crystal Palace at the Bodymoor Heath Training Ground in Birmingham thanks to a goal from captain Shaakir Ahmed.
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Saturday’s result has seen the team from the Cape Winelands in South Africa advance to the final of the competition, where they will be hoping to make up for last year’s penalty shootout defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers in the same stage of the competition.
Stellies triumph was not without effort, as Crystal Palace started strong and fashioned the biggest chance of the half with just over 10 minutes on the clock. A ball played across the face of the box found Dean Benemar, but the Eagles youngster miscued his effort with the goal gaping.
That missed opportunity came as a reprieve for Evangelos Vellios’ side who then nearly punished Palace on the stroke of half-time through Roy-Keane Avontuur who, playing in his third Next Gen Cup tournament, fired narrowly wide with a curling right-footed effort.
Following the interval, both teams came out of the blocks firing and produced end-to-end action, and Palace won a penalty after Shaakir Ahmed and Rijul Pillay were collectively deemed to have fouled Benemar with a high boot challenge.
Benji Casey stepped up to take the spot kick for the Premier League side but David Passman, on as a substitute for Dejean Ah Shene to make his first Next Gen appearance, pulled off a brilliant diving save to his right.
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With the very next play, it was Stellies who nearly opened the scoring when Quwan Plaatjies, scorer in the win over Aston Villa, lobbed Marcus Hill in the opposition goal but saw his effort denied on the goalline by a last-gasp clearance.
That moment was a sign of things to come as the reigning DStv Diski Challenge champions took the lead just minutes later when captain Shaakir Ahmed latched onto a pinpoint cross from Liam Slade to head his side into the lead.
Stellies’ lead was almost doubled twice at the death as both Jean Topley and Avontuur found themselves one-on-one with Hill, but the Eagles ‘keeper stood tall on both occasions to keep his side in the contest.
Ultimately, though, it was Ahmed’s goal that proved to be the difference as Stellenbosch advanced to their third consecutive final appearance at the Next Gen Cup.