Johannesburg - Kaizer Chiefs have defeated Soweto rivals Moroka Swallows 3-0 in an Absa Premiership match at Dobsonville Stadium on Wednesday.
As it happened: Moroka Swallows v Kaizer Chiefs
The victory, secured by an own goal and fine late strikes from George Lebese and Bernard Parker, saw Chiefs reassert their league title ambitions after suffering a shock defeat to Maritzburg United last week.
The defeat for the Birds was a bitter one to swallow in caretaker coach Patrick Mabedi’s first match in charge, and they remain in the danger zone at the bottom of the standings.
Chiefs created the first chance of the game in the 16th minute, but Siphiwe Tshabalala sent his shot wide of the target. However, just seven minutes later, the visitors opened the scoring thanks to an own goal from the home side.
A Bernard Parker corner kick was deflected into the Swallows net by a combination of Larry Cohen and Greg Etafia for an own goal, with Katlego Mphela also in the mix. The PSL officially credited the goal to the unfortunate Cohen.
Chiefs created two good chances to add to their lead around the hour mark, with Parker first denied by an excellent save from Greg Etafia, while Mphela found himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper but was somewhat unfortunate to get his feet caught up in the turf and missed the opportunity.
Dikgang Mabalane almost came up with an equaliser in the 72nd minute, sending a shot direct from a free kick just wide of Itumeleng Khune’s left-hand post. To be fair, the Chiefs goalkeeper appeared to have the effort covered had it been on target.
The league leaders almost killed off the game in the 77th minute when Parker slipped away from Cohen and got a shot away from the edge of the box, but the ball rebounded off the base of the post.
Four minutes later Parker rounded Etafia and shot on target from a tight angle, but Cohen made a heroic sliding clearance to prevent the ball crossing the goal line and keep the Birds within touching distance.
Chiefs finally came good on their threat of a second goal in the 84th minute, with a counter attack seeing George Lebese provide a brilliant lob over Etafia to effectively kill off the game and seal the points for Stuart Baxter’s side.
And two minutes later Parker made it 3-0, firing home a powerful shot to rack up a deserved goal given his persistence and determination on the night. Chiefs’ last two goals arrived with Swallows down to 10 men, with Luvhengo Mungomeni stretchered off after the hosts had used all three substitutions.