It was an open game with both teams having several chances on goal.

The Team of Choice were by no means outplayd and on another day could well have come away with something had things fallen for them in front of goal.

Maritzburg made a decent enough start to the game with half chances early on for Fadlu Davids and Michael Morton, while Kurt Lentjies had a free kick blocked.

Downs though signalled their intentions when Teko Modise fired a powerful drive just overt the bar in the 16 th minute.

There wasn’t an awful lot the Team of Choice could do to stop the Brazilians from going ahead after 22 minutes as Modise set Punch Masanamela free, the left back pulling the ball across goal for Elias Pelembe to fire home.

Following the goal there were chances in quick succession at both ends as Katelgo Mphela fired just wide when he looked set to score and then Lentjies missed a great chance for United as he failed to hit the target.

The KZN side had another great opportunity to score in the 37 th minute when Morne Davids dragged his shot across goal, the ball reaching Prince Olomu at the back post.

Olomu’s shot from an extremely tight angle was cleared off the line when an unmarked Fadlu Davids appeared the better option.

After the break the chances continued to come regularly at both ends in what was an entertaining game.

Themba Zwane had two opportunities in quick succession for the Pretoria side – the first well saved by Shu-aib Walters, and the second a header off target.

With 66 minutes gone Olomu spurned a fantastic chance when he failed to bring down the ball when clean through on goal and then soon after the Nigerian had his near post shot saved by Wayne Sandilands.

At the other end Nyasha Mushekwi was giving United all kind of problems and he came close to scoring on the 69 th minute with a shot across the face of goal.

The final stages of the match were absorbing as United did their best to pull a goal back, but it proved a hurdle too far as the hosts held on for the win.