It took five matches and probably many sleepless nights for Cape Town City owner John Comitis, but on Sunday he finally saw his new coach Jan Olde Riekerink guide his team to victory.
City won their first match since November 6 with a 1-0 success over fellow PSL strugglers Baroka at Cape Town Stadium.
Skipper Thami Mkhize was the man who scored the winning goal in the 66th minute after a clever set piece.
But far from being “new year, new City”, that really came out of nowhere after another sloppy and shaky display by Riekerink’s team.
Starting the clash with slippery conditions under foot, the hosts sukkeled to create chances to score.
They were slow in the build-up and sloppy in possession and were open to the counter, which Baroka used enthusiastically.
And they got away with one such attack just on the stroke of half time.
BACK AT IT: Cape Town City coach Jan Olde Riekerink, left and owner John Comitis. Picture: Sydney Mahlangu/BackpagePix.
After the break, City looked to have finally run out of ideas, resorting to long-range efforts, with Roland Putsche and Kermit Erasmus seeing their desperate shots blocked anyway.
Then out of the blue, the moment they have been waiting for for 466 minutes finally arrived.
From a short corner, Mkhize rose head and shoulders above three Baroka defenders at the back post to score a long-awaited goal.
Injured defender Taariq Fielies was forced to battle on just before injury time to maintain their lead after they had made all their substitutions.
And they held on to move off the bottom of the PSL table and up to 11th.