Chiefs edge Pirates to grab Soweto spoils

A stunning Reeve Frosler strike and an Eric Mathoho header secured Kaizer Chiefs maximum points in the Soweto derby as Amakhosi edged Orlando Pirates 2-1 in the DStv Premiership at the Orlando Stadium on Saturday.

The victory lifted the Naturena based outfit to second place on the league standings with 35 points after 19 games, while the Buccaneers remain in fourth place with 32 points having played 22 games.

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Amakhosi had a spectacular start in the game, with Reeve Frosler’s remarkable strike in the 18^th minute, giving Siyabonga Mpontshane no chance at all to save the ball to give Chiefs the lead.

Pirates should have equalised just after the 20 minutes. Chiefs central defence pairing of Eric Mathoho and Daniel Cardoso seemed to be struggling, and Kabelo Dlamini should have taken advantage of the situation, but twice he failed.

At the other end, Chiefs could have easily gone 2-0 up in the 26^th minute after Keagan Dolly beat an offside trap and scored, but the referee Masixolele Bambiso called for an offside.

Amakhosi suffered a huge blow when Khama Billiat had to be pulled out due to a hamstring injury in the 39^th minute and he was replaced by Kearyn Baccus. Immediately after that, Pirates thought they had equalised through Kwame Peprah’s diving header, but the striker judged to be in an offside position and Amakhosi went into the break on the driver’s seat.

The start of the second was better for the Sea Robbers, as they only took nine minutes to get an equaliser through a counter attack as Peprah tapped in from close thanks to Deon Hotto.

In a fight to get the winning goal, there were half chances created, there were half chances created by both teams, but none could go in.

But, it was Chiefs who would go on to restore their lead, as Mathoho rose high to head the ball inside the back of the net from a Dolly corner-kick in the 81^st minute. Pirates came through hard in the dying minutes of the game, but Brandon Petersen saved a Terrence Dzvukamanja close range strike to ensure Chiefs get the win.