PSL Round-up Week 4

This week we learnt that sometimes its better to play away, and that now is not a good time to have “United” in one’s team name.

Tuesday’s matches

Swallows won their matchup against Polokwane City 3-2 at Dobsonville Stadium. Lerato Chabangu opened the scoring in the 27th minute with a glancing header off Siyabonga Nomvethe’s cross. Polokwane equalised with a header from Thapelo Tshilo. Another header, this time from Puleng Tlolane put Swallows in the lead, but just on half time Vuyisile Wana scored to make it two all. Chabangu scored the winning goal eight minutes from time. Swallows jumped two places to end up third on the log and Polokwane dropped two and is three from the bottom at 13th.

Maritzburg United ran rampant at home thrashing Chippa United 3-0. Both teams played offensively but Maritzburg’s defence was superior and that ultimately set them apart. Maritzburg’s first goal came in the 20th minute when Mohammed Amas headed in a Banda cross. Chippa’s David Zulu hit the cross-bar four minutes later, missing out on the equaliser. Nhlanhla Vilakazi scored five minutes after the break and Sheldon van Wyk added the third goal in the 85th. Maritzburg is sitting pretty in fourth while Chippa is second last in 15th.

Ajax put on a fine performance at home trouncing Wits 3-1. Nathan Paulse opened the scoring in the 77th. Sthembiso Ngcobo came off the bench and equalised with a scissor-kick three minutes later. Thulani Hlatshwayo’s handball allowed Paulse to add to his tally and Ajax to take the lead. Dolly then killed things off with a goal in the last minute. Ajax remains in second and Wits drops two places to fifth.

Wednesday’s matches

Free State Stars beat Tuks 1-0 in Pretoria. Nothing particularly noteworthy happened in the first half, with the exception of the Tuks goalkeeper denying Moeketsi Sekola twice. Robert Sankara scored the only goal in the 76th minute.The goal came from a corner and Sankara put his head to good use. Stars now has jumped four places to sixth while Tuks dropped two places to tenth.

Pirates plundered Sundowns at Loftus taking all the respect, dignity and most importantly, all the goals. They crushed Sundowns 3-0 with Kermit Erasmus scoring a goal in each half and Lehlohonolo Majoro well and truly ending things with a third 15 minutes from time. Pirates moved up five places to eighth. Sundowns went crashing down to 12th.

Chiefs gave Platinum Stars a hiding in Stars’ own back yard. Reneilwe Letsholonyane scored in the 20th while George Lebese stretched the lead in the 33rd. Despite an improved performance in the second half, Stars was unable to score a goal. Amakhosi is smiling at the top, and Stars dropped out of the top five and landed in seventh.

Celtic won their first league match of the season when they defeated AmaZulu 2-0 in Durban. Both goals came in the first half with Lerato Lamola scoring in the 17th and Frank Mhango scoring ten minutes later. Celtic is now in ninth while AmaZulu is dead last at 16th.

Black Aces surprised SuperSport United and moved into 11th place on the log. Despite a red card apiece for retaliation, the real goal scoring action was in the second half. Collins Mbesuma came off the bench to score the opening goal in the 68th minute. Seven minutes later Aubrey Ngoma doubled the lead. Dove Wome made the score a little more respectable when he scored in injury time. SuperSport is three below Aces in 14th.

Interestingly five out of the eight winning teams were playing away. SuperSport United and Chippa United went from 12th and ninth respectively last week, to 14th and 15th at the bottom of the log. We won’t even mention the team of English persuasion with “United” in its name.