by Dzudzie Faith Netshisaulu
Kaizer Chiefs held their nerve to claim a hard-fought 3–2 victory over Siwelele in a thrilling Betway Premiership encounter at Dobsonville Stadium on Sunday evening.
The Glamour Boys appeared to be in control after building a two-goal advantage, but Siwelele refused to surrender and pushed Chiefs all the way before the home side secured all three points.
Mfundo Vilakazi opened the scoring for Chiefs in the 31st minute, giving the Soweto giants an advantage after they had enjoyed the better of the early exchanges.
The goal settled the hosts and gave them greater confidence as they looked to dictate the tempo against a Siwelele side still searching for its first league victory of the season.
Chiefs extended their advantage shortly after the restart when Wandile Duba found the back of the net in the 66th minute. With a 2–0 lead, the hosts appeared to be heading towards a comfortable victory.
But Siwelele produced an immediate response.
Anthony Baliti pulled one back in the 69th minute to breathe new life into the contest and put the Chiefs defence under renewed pressure.
The momentum swung again in Chiefs’ favour when Siwelele defender Sabelo Xulu put the ball into his own net in the 77th minute, restoring the Amakhosi’s two-goal cushion.
At 3–1, Chiefs looked destined to close out the match, but Siwelele produced one final twist.
Mohamed Guessan scored deep into stoppage time, reducing the deficit to 3–2 and setting up a tense finish. Chiefs, however, managed to withstand the late pressure and held on for a valuable victory.
The result maintains Chiefs’ unbeaten start to the 2026/27 Betway Premiership campaign. The Soweto giants entered the match with eight points from their opening four games after two wins and two draws.
For Siwelele, the defeat extends a difficult start to the campaign. The Bloemfontein-based side came into the encounter still searching for its first victory and had collected only two points from four matches.
Chiefs coach Fernando Da Cruz made two changes to his starting line-up, with Dillan Solomons coming in for the injured Thabiso Monyane and Duba replacing Luke Baartman in attack.
The victory will provide Chiefs with another important boost as they look to remain among the early title contenders. More importantly, they showed character to withstand Siwelele’s determined fightback in a match that remained uncertain until the final whistle.
For Siwelele coach Lehlohonolo Seema, the performance will offer some encouragement despite another defeat. His side showed resilience after falling two goals behind and will hope the fighting spirit displayed in Soweto can translate into points in their upcoming fixtures.
Chiefs’ next challenge will be to build on this victory, while Siwelele will be desperate to turn promising spells of performance into their first league win of the season.
