Posted in Match Report, News, Team News on Mar 19, 2023.
Maritzburg United (2) 2
De Goede 20’, Soukouna 41’
Kaizer Chiefs (2) 3
Dolly 5’, Saile 10’, Maart (pen) 76’)
DStv Premiership
Harry Gwala stadium
Kaizer Chiefs recorded a third victory over Maritzburg United this season with a 3-2 win at a packed Harry Gwala stadium on Saturday evening.
Amakhosi were two goals to the good after only 10 minutes through Keagan Dolly and Christian Saile, but were pegged back to 2-2 before half-time as Mogamad De Goede and Amadou Soukouna restored parity for the hosts.
A second half penalty, cooly converted by Yusuf Maart, proved to be the winner on a balmy night in the capital of KwaZulu-Natal.
Maritzburg started the match on the front foot, hoping to surprise Chiefs early on, but were caught out themselves in only the 5th minute.
As Ashley Du Preez chased a long ball out of defence, Maritzburg goalkeeper, Renaldo Leaner, came charging out of his area and slipped, leaving Du Preez to gain control of the ball and lay it square for Dolly to side foot into the net.
The typically large contingent of Amakhosi fans were in dreamland five minutes later when new fan-favourite Christian Saile picked the ball up just inside the opposition half and carried it towards goal. Assessing his options, he chose to shoot, lashing an unstoppable drive past Leaner from the edge of the box.
The home side, fighting for their DStv Premiership survival, mounted a response and pulled a goal back in the 20th minute.
Keegan Ritchie’s corner was met at the near post by De Goede, whose header flashed past Brandon Petersen before he could react.
The Team of Choice drew level four minutes before half-time, courtesy of a sublimely struck Soukouna free kick, after Zitha Kwinika had fouled Karim Kimvuidiabout 25 yards out.
Chiefs would have been disappointed going into the interval at two goals apiece and looked more purposeful as the second period got underway.
It was largely a scrappy affair, as the heat and humidity began to take a toll on the players, who had performed with relentless intensity during the opening 45 minutes.
Neither side was able to hold possession for long enough to fashion any meaningful threats, until the 70th minute, when Amakhosi were awarded a penalty after De Goede was adjudged to have impeded Du Preez.
After some delay, Maart confidently stroked the ball past Leaner to regain the lead for his team.
Despite Maritzburg United’s best efforts, Amakhosi held them at bay and saw out the remainder of the time relatively comfortably.
Chiefs’ third successive league victory moves them up to fourth on the DStv Premiership log, level on 37 points with third-placed Orlando Pirates and only trailing marginally on goal difference.
Satisfied with another three points, Amakhosi coach, Arthur Zwane said afterwards, “We got two early goals from great movement and after we got the second goal, we thought the game was going to be easy but I warned the players that these guys are going to put up a great fight because they are in a position where they want survival. I think, in the second half they took their foot off the pedal and were a bit more cautious, which allowed us to take control of the game and when we made our counter attacks at the right time, we looked like we could score at any given moment.”
Stats: Saile’s goal was Chiefs’ 50th against Maritzburg United.
This is Chiefs’ fourth win in a row against Maritzburg. The last time was during a five-match winning streak from 2026-18.
Line-ups:
Chiefs XI: Petersen (1); Hlanti (23), Dove (2), Solomons (18), Kwinika (4), Maart (8), Sithebe (6), Shabalala (42) (Nj Ngcobo (27) 80’), Dolly © (10) (Mashiane (19) 90+6’), Du Preez (9), Saile (21) )Matlou (22) 90+6’).
Subs: Bvuma (44), Dube (29), Zwane (37), Mahlatsi (5), Duba (36), Bimenyimana (28)
Coach: Arthur Zwane
Maritzburg XI: Leaner (32), De Goede (3), Bhengu (24)(Theron (22 58’)), Makume (5), Cross (2), Graham © (6)(Jooste (45) 79’), Ritchie (16), Meza (14), Kimvuidi (26)(Human (10) 87’), Peprah (46) (Samu (20) 79’), Soukouna(11)
Subs: Ndlovu (31), Ndengane (27), Samu (20), Tlolane (50), Zuma (36), Palace (28)
Coach: Fadlu Davids
