Cape Town – Dylan Kerr picked up his first win as Black Leopards coach after his side beat AmaZulu 3-1 at the Thohoyandou Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
AmaZulu made the better start in Limpopo and had an early sight at goal when Emiliano Tade beat his man from a charge down and forced Rotshidzwa Muleka into a save inside the opening five minutes.
Muleka was forced off through injury soon afterwards and King Ndlovu took his place in the home goal. The substitute keeper was quickly into the action as he pulled off a fingertip save to deny Butholezwe Ncube from outside the area.
The hosts grew into the game as the first half wore on, but they failed to fashion any clear-cut chances before the break.
The second stanza was much more of a spectacle as both teams carved out good opportunities, with Tade narrowly missing the target from range early on, before Siyabonga Mbatha denied Pentjie Zulu and Khuliso Mudau in a short space of time at the other end.
The home fans finally had something to celebrate on the hour mark when Lefa Hlongwane produced a clinical finish from Zulu's cutback on the left to open the scoring.
Leopards were presented with a good chance to double their advantage just two minutes later from a free-kick just outside the box, but Zulu failed to test Mbatha with a curler that cleared the crossbar.
It was 2-0 on 79 minutes, however, when Mudau collected a deep cross from the left and picked out the advancing Tshwarelo Bereng, who fired into the top-left corner of the net.
Substitute Lesedi Kapinga was just inches away from making it three on 83 minutes as he cut inside from the right and curled a shot fractionally wide of the left post from 19 yards out.
Karuru halved the deficit four minutes later with a smart finish, converting with a flicked backheel from close range after connecting with Ncube's drilled cross into the box.
But Mwape Musonda killed off any thoughts of a comeback moments later when he beat the offside trap to latch onto Bereng's through-ball and fire into the far corner of the goal from an angle on the right.
