Pirates exerting pressure, Chiefs falter
Finally, after round 12 of the Absa Premiership Kaizer Chiefs suffered their first league loss of the season on Saturday going down 2-0 to Platinum Stars in Rustenburg.
This allowed Orlando Pirates to make up some ground on the Amakhosi as they moved to within one point of the league leaders with a 2-0 win over Bidvest Wits, also on Saturday.
The round’s action, though, got underway on Friday night in a scintillating Cape derby as Ajax Cape Town and PSL rookies Chippa United locked horns for the very first time.
The Urban Warriors came out in front in a five goal spectacle, with the Brazilian Wanderson grabbing the winner that saw Ajax up to 12th in the league table while Chippa slipped back into 14th spot.
On Saturday afternoon the Mighty Amakhosi took a fall as early goals from Henrico Botes and Mogakolodi Ngele handed Platinum Stars a 2-0 win, a result that takes the Rustenburg outfit to fourth place on the table. And while the loss was Chiefs’ first of the season, they continue to remain at the top of the table with 27 points.
The other Saturday afternoon game saw an injury time penalty from Rodney Ramagalela, his second goal of the match, hand Black Leopards a 2-1 win over the University of Pretoria. Still, Tuks remained in fifth on the table while Leopards moved into ninth position.
On Saturday night, Pirates grabbed their chance to close the gap on Chiefs with a convincing 2-0 win over Wits with goals from Thabo Matlaba and Tlou Segolela. The Buccaneers are now only one point behind Chiefs in second place while the Students slipped one place into seventh.
Elsewhere on Saturday night, Maritzburg continued to impress with a 3-1 win over Moroka Swallows which saw the KZN side up to third on the log while the Birds continue to struggle and dropped down to tenth.
Jumping above Swallows was Free State Stars into sixth place thanks to a loan goal from Anver Esterhuizen that saw the Ea Lla Koto beat AmaZulu 1-0. The Usuthu are now holding up the bottom of the table with nine points.
Moving off the bottom of the table into 15th spot was Mamelodi Sundowns after only their second win of the season on Sunday, Richard Henyekane scoring the only goal of the match as the Brazilians beat Bloemfontein Celtic 2-1. The result saw Celtic dropped into eight spot in the league.
The final match of the weekend saw SuperSport United come from behind twice to earn their tenth draw of the season against Golden Arrows. The 2-2 scoreline means United are 11th on the log while Arrows are in 13th place.
