It’s Shakes, rattle and roll

Celebrating 40 years of independence this week, the locals of Benguela were given freedom to leave their jobs at noon yesterday in the hope that they would fill up this venue and rally behind the Palancas Negras.

But Shakes Mashaba's Bafana Bafana side rained on their parade when they came from behind to secure an impressive 3-1 first leg victory in round two of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, four days before of the return leg at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Tuesday.

No surprises here, though. Bafana had only lost once to Angola in 10 previous encounters.

Bafana may have won this match but they would certainly want to forget about the start they had here.

Some of the fans had not even taken their seats when the hosts took the lead.

Angola opened the scoring just two minutes into the game thanks to some brilliant work from Jacinto Dala, who was given far too much space to cut in from the left side, pick a spot and then take a good shot with his right foot to give Jackson Mabokgwane, Bafana's captain on the day, no chance of stopping the effort.

Angola’s goal came just seconds after Bafana wasted a good chance to score at the other end, as usual trying to walk the ball into the net with too many passes in the final third of the pitch.

Rattled by that early goal, Bafana gave away possession far too easily in, but they shook off the early nerves with a goal after 14 minutes as Tokelo Rantie levelled matters. Rantie's lack of match fitness was a concern, but he brilliantly curled the ball into the net after receiving a ball from Thabo Matlaba on the left flank.

Angolan fans started turning on their own team when Thamsanqa Gabuza scored the visitors’ second goal after 20 minutes – the Orlando Pirates man continuing his impressive form whenever he plays on the continent.

The striker, who scored in the 2-1 victory over Angola in Cape Town in June, latched on to a pass from Mandla Masango on the right flank and his finish was superb, first picking his spot before passing the ball into the net.

Angolan fans started putting pressure on their players, calling for them to shoot or pass when opportunities were there to do so.

But it seemed as though the hosts could not handle that pressure, often just making the wrong decision in the final third. No wonder Mashaba says it's better to play away from home, where there's no pressure from fans.

There were some nervy moments for Bafana, but the visitors held off Angola’s attempt at a comeback and even scored a third after they were awarded a dubious penalty.

Andile Jali slotted the ball home, but was sent off after receiving a yellow card for his celebration which left Angolan fans throwing bottles in his direction.

Mashana was hit on the head by one such bottle as he walked to the tunnel after the win, while players got away quickly.