A brace from Glenn Stephen-Hahn inspired the Western Cape to a 3-0 win over neighbours Northern Cape on day three of the SAB Under-21 National Championship at Giant Stadium in Shoshanguve.
The Northern Cape were guilty of taking their foot off the pedal in the second half of their opening two games of the tournament and were ultimately punished by a rampant Western Cape outfit on Wednesday afternoon.
As in their 3-2 win over Gauteng, the Northern Cape started the game well with Castle Lager Academy midfielder Christoper Balie seeing his goal attempt fly just over with three minutes on the clock.
Hahn had the ball in the back of the net in the 18th minute, but the goal was disallowed as he was in an offside position.
The lanky forward continued to torment the Northern Cape defence and saw his header canon off the crossbar, before Aushron Kruger somehow missed the target from the rebound with the goal at his mercy seven minutes before the break.
Western Cape piled on the pressure after the interval and were rewarded in the 64th minute – Hahn curling the ball past Joseph Warrick in the Northern Cape goal.
Hahn doubled Western Cape’s advantage seven minutes later, rounding off a swift move with a poacher like finish.
Balie came close to pulling a goal back for the Northern Cape in the 81st minute. His free-kick struck the crossbar before bouncing off Mark Adams shoulder, Francois Rens looked sure to stick the rebound in the back of the net, but the Western Cape keeper was quick to react, saving with his legs to keep the score at 2-0.
Kruger made up for his miss five minutes later, firing home a half-volley from close range to seal the deal for the 2013 champions.
Both teams will be on action on Thursday with a place in the semifinals on the line.