Staff Reporter.
Stellenbosch FC beat Kaizer Chiefs 1-0 at the Danie Craven Stadium on Saturday evening to register their second league victory over Soweto giants.
Judas Moseamedi, who has a knack for scoring against Chiefs since his days with Maritzburg United, looked lively in the opening stages of the encounter whenever Stellies counterattacked.
The former South Africa under-23 star was involved in the build-up to the only goal of the match as he set up Deano Van Rooyen, who scored with a low shot to make it 1-0 to Stellenbosch in the 20th minute against the run of play.
Amakhosi struggled to create clear cut chances and test goalkeeper Sage Stephens. At the other end, they nearly conceded when Ashley Du Preez unleashed a low shot which narrowly missed the target.
Chiefs did create a half a chance when Khama Billiat delivered a curling cross for Leonardo Castro, who couldn’t make contact with the ball from close range and the score was 1-0 to Stellenbosch at halftime.
Stellies still looked dangerous on the counterattack after the restart and they should have doubled their lead after Moseamedi was sent through on goal. However, the 28-year-old was superbly denied by keeper Brandon Petersen.
With the Stellies looking solid and compact at the back, Keagan Dolly decided to try his luck from range and he was denied by Stephens comfortably as the former Cape Town City keeper was called into action for the first time on the night.
Co-coaches Arthur Zwane and Dillon Sheppard introduced attack-minded players such as Dumisani Zuma, Kgaogelo Sekgota and Nkosingiphile Ngcobo as the visitors looked to level matters.
The momentum was Amakhosi in the latter stages of the game, but Stephens produced smart saves to deny Zuma and Nkosingiphile Ngcobo to ensure that the match ended in a 1-0 win in favour of Stellenbosch.
Meanwhile TS Galaxy were held to a 1-1 draw by Maritzburg United in the DStv Premiership match at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit on Saturday afternoon.