Kaizer Chiefs’ hopes of climbing up the Absa Premiership table were dashed on Wednesday night when they succumbed 1-0 to Cape Town City at the FNB Stadium.

Amakhosi goalkeeper Virgil Vries made another high-profile mistake to decide the game, with the Citizens scoring through Dove Edmilson to open up a three point gap between themselves and the Soweto giants in fourth and fifth place respectively.

City suffered an early injury blow, with striker Siphelele Mthembu taking a knock to his ankle in a challenge with Teenage Hadebe. The attacker looked to run the problem off, but was replaced on nine minutes by Kermit Erasmus.

Chiefs enjoyed the better chances in the opening quarter, with Daniel Cardoso heading just wide from a free kick in the seventh minute, while the midway point of the half saw Bernard Parker send a deflected effort on goal, only for Peter Leeuwenburgh to make a good save.

The Dutch goalkeeper made an even better stop just after the half-hour mark, using his legs to keep out a low effort from Khama Billiat, while his counterpart Virgil Vries also made saves in between to prevent Erasmus and Gift Links from giving the Citizens the lead against the run of play.

The half ended goalless and was also level in terms of injury-forced substitutions, as Chiefs defender Kgotso Moleko suffered a blow to the head in a collision with goalkeeper Vries and was replaced by Siyabonga Ngezana.

The changes in personnel continued at the start of the second half, with Chiefs replacing Parker with Leonardo Castro and City swapping out Teko Modise to bring on defender Dove Edmilson.

The Amakhosi’s substitute striker almost gave his side the lead midway through the second stanza, sending a powerful left-footed effort on target, only for Leeuwenburgh to tip the ball over the top for a corner kick.

The set piece was then cleared only as fas as Chiefs’ Siphelele Ntshangase, who tried his hand from long range and saw his shot deflected – the ball had the beating of the City goalkeeper this time, but the visitors were rescued by the post.

City had offered almost no threat in attack in the second half, but they claimed the lead out of nowhere in the 79th minute. Vries came off his line and flapped at a free kick delivered from the visitors’ right flank, allowing Edmilson to score from close range.

The Citizens were reduced to 10 men with just a few minutes of regulation time remaining, as defender Zukile Kewuti was deservedly shown a straight red card for a dangerous challenge on Ntshangase.

The dismissal handed the initiative to the hosts, but they were unable to deliver any scoring chances in what remained and slid to a disappointing defeat.

Kaizer Chiefs 0
Cape Town City (0) 1 (Edmilson 79’)

Chiefs: Vries, Moleko (Ngezana 45’), Hadebe, Cardoso, Ntiya-Ntiya, Katsande, Mashiane (Moon 81’), Ekstein, Ntshangase, Parker (Castro 46’), Billiat

City: Leeuwenburgh, Mkhize, Cupido, Mngonyama, Kewuti, Mokeke, Modise (Edmilson 46’), Nodada, Links, Mthembu (Erasmus 9’ [Seedat 76’]), Martin