Thabo Matlaba’s brilliant solo effort gave Royal AM a 1-0 win over TS Galaxy at Chatsworth Stadium on Sunday.
The visitors were enjoying the majority of the possession in the openin exchanges but were yet ot force a save out of Royal AM goalkeeper Zakhele Ngcobo.
Royal AM were disappointing in the opening 20 minutes and were giving away possession too freely.
Galaxy should have been a goal to the good but Lifa Hlongwane dragged his effort horribly wide after being released through on goal.
Royal AM coach John Maduka was forced to make a change on the half-hour mark, replacing the injured Motebang Sera with Ruzaigh Gamildien.
TS Galaxy had the better of the first half but the sides went into the interval deadlocked at 0-0.
Thwihli Thwala turned it around after the break and almost took the lead in the 56th minute when Mfundo Thikazi saw his effort crash off the crossbar before Galaxy cleared.
And the hosts would eventually take the lead on the hour mark when Thabo Matlaba embarked on a fine solo run before firing clinically into the bottom corner.
Galaxy began to throw plenty of men forward in search of an equaliser, and brought on Thamsanqa Gabuza and Nkosikhona Radebe to add more firepower up front.
Galaxy should have been on level terms when Radebe’s cross made its way to Mahlangu at the back post but he fired over the bar.
In the end, Matlaba’s fine solo strike was enough to separate the sides.