Maritzburg take promotion/relegation scrap to final day after comfortable Casric Stars win

At the Solomon Mahlangu Stadium, KwaMhlanga

Maritzburg United has taken their relegation to the very last day of the 2022/23 season after they beat Casric Stars 2-0 in their promotion/relegation scrap KwaMhlanga on Saturday afternoon.

Goals from Rowan Human and Mogamad de Goede ensured that Wednesday's home game against Cape Town Spurs is a winner takes all game.

The win not only moved Maritzburg United to six points, but also level on goal difference with the unbeaten Spurs, who have won all their games 1-0.

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The game took place in the backdrop of Clive Barker's passing on Saturday morning, with Maritzburg United being the last club he coached before stepping down permanently into development.

The teams honoured the 1996 African Cup of Nations winning coach with a moment of silence, a solemness that was not only well observed by the vibrant crowd, but also followed it up with a hearty round of applause that Barker would have appreciated.

At the end of the day, Barker was a proper football person at heart and took in all the niceties and complexities that came with South African football.

He would have been at home in the heart of KwaMhlanga in the same way he fitted into the comfortable surrounds of Lens, Manchester, and Dusseldorf when he coached Bafana Bafana.

What also would have pleased Barker about this game was the heart shown by both sides, even though the quality of the football remained suspect.

After all, this was a relegation scrap where the win matters more than how it was it was delivered.

Maritzburg United came out of blocks as the team that clearly had most to gain and had the three best chances in the first 15