Who were the stars and who were the ‘palookas’ of Soweto derby?

Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates’ first meeting this season saw a number of players playing for the first time in the highly anticipated Soweto derby.

ALSO READ: Pirates coach defends Hlatshwayo after costly mistake against Chiefs

The game of this magnitude makes or breaks players, with the pressure to do well in the tie and to please the respective teams’ supporters unbearable to many while others have gone on to achieve legendary statuses at their clubs.

Chiefs took bragging rights last Saturday as they won the DStv Premiership match against Pirates 2-1 at the FNB Stadium.

In this match, the tiniest of mistakes can be highly costly for a team as it has proven in the past and last weekend it was the same story with a lot of errors and some brilliant individual performances.

Phakaaathi looks at some top performers and worst performers of the recent Soweto derby between Chiefs and Pirates.

The Palookas

Thulani Hlatshwayo – Orlando Pirates

It was another bad day at the office for the former Bafana Bafana captain. It was his silly back-pass that gifted Kaizer Chiefs their first goal of the game.

Daniel Akpeyi – Kaizer Chiefs

The Chiefs goalkeeper nearly cost Amakhosi two points after failing to handle the ball, which was scored by Linda Mntambo to level the scores in the dying minutes of the match. For a goalkeeper of his calibre, the blunder was a school boy error and for an international goalkeeper, Akpeyi should be doing much better.

The Stars of the show

Keagan Dolly – Kaizer Chiefs

It is rare to find a player making his Soweto derby debut and go on to score two goals, but the 28-year-old Dolly did that and showed once again that he is a quality player. Most players crack in such a game, but Dolly held his own and delivered for Amakhosi.

Linda Mntambo  – Orlando Pirates

Mntambo’s top performances for the Buccaneers seem to be continuing game by game, and the midfielder is slowly becoming the club’s most important player in the field. He scores and creates goals. He did not only scored last Saturday he also provided some great chances for Pirates to score goals, but they went into waste.