Wits give Chiefs’ coach Solinas a headache

It’s early days still, but the pressure will already be mounting on new Amakhosi coach Giovanni Solinas after an emphatic win by Wits, who scored through Deon Hotto, Terrence Dzvukamanja and Gift Motupa, with Leonardo Castro on target for the hosts.

Credit though should also go to the Braamfontein-based team, who put in a polished display and scored three goals for the second time match running with suspended coach Gavin Hunt watching on from the stands.

The Soweto giants made a decent start to the match, enjoying some good passages of play, without however really causing too many problems to the visitor’s defence.

But instead, with what was their first meaningful attack of the night, the Students drew first blood in the 23rd minute when a brilliant counter-attack saw five or six passes exchanged before Hotto let rip with a scorcher of a strike from 25-yards out, Chiefs keeper Itumeleng Khune getting a touch but not able to keep the ball out the net.

Stung into action, Chiefs were not far from an equaliser when Bernard Parker’s cross-come-shot narrowly missed both the far corner of the net and the on-rushing Castro.

It was Castro though who had Amakhosi back in the game when he glanced a 33rd-minute header past Darren Keet and into the net after a free kick from his former Sundowns team-mate, Khama Billiat.

Like Billiat, The Colombian was looking up for it at that point of the game and he was not far off the target with a sharp chance a few minutes later.

But the Clever Boys were in a deadly mood and they were back in front in the 43rd minute when Dzvukamanja easily out-jumped Siphosakhe Ntiya-Ntiya to head in from a beauty of a cross from Sifiso Hlanti.

It took Wits just a couple of second-half minutes to extend their lead after a swift counter-attack cut through the heart of the Amakhosi defence before Hotto played in Motupa, who finished coolly past Khune from 16-yards out.

The home crowd increasingly showing their discontent with the situation, Chiefs tried to get themselves back into the game and should have reduced the deficit in the 56th minute when Erick Mathoho found himself unmarked at a corner kick, but his headed effort was poor.

Opportunities remained at a premium for the Glamour Boys as Wits tightened things up at the back and it was only in the 75th minute that their next chance arrived when Billiat went close with a free kick, before Ramahlwe Mphahlele skied a shot over the bar a minutes later after Keet had dropped a cross.

The visiting side though were determined not to give Chiefs an opening back into the game and some hard work and focused defending saw them through to full-time with the two-goal cushion comfortably intact.