Kaizer Chiefs completed the double over Stellenbosch FC after beating them 1-0 in Friday night’s Betway Premiership fixture at the Athlone Stadium.
It was a warm evening in the Cape as the two teams battled it out for an opportunity to move up the table. A victory for Chiefs in the 17th game of the campaign would lift them to fourth, while a win in Stellies’ 14th game would move them up to fifth and ahead of Amakhosi.
Unsurprisingly it was Chiefs fans who dominated the crowd at a sold out Athlone and they had a lot to cheer about early on as new signing Glody Lilepo rose well to head Chiefs in front in just the fourth minute.
Chumani Butsaka’s long range attempt in the 12th minute was easily saved by Bruce Bvuma, while Lilepo went wide at the other end two minutes later
Overall it was a good opening 30 minutes for the Amakhosi who created the better opportunities, with Lilepo and Tashreeq Morris causing problems.
Thabo Cele was on target in the 41st minute but his set piece attempt was saved by Sage Stephens.
At the break, Lilepo’s goal separated the teams, while the second half was quite a feisty affair but without any real goalscoring opportunities.
Five minutes into the second 45, Lilepo’s shot from a free-kick went straight to Stephens, and a few minutes later Stephens stopped another Lilepo chance from open play.
Pule Mmodi had the forst real chance of the second half but his shot from outside the box was pushed around the post by Stephens in the 70th minute.
Stellenbosch had a late chance via Faiz Abrahams, but the debutant failed to hit the target with his shot.
The win saw Chiefs move into fourth place with 25 points from 17 games, while Stellies dropped into eighth with 20 points from 14 matches.
