Bimenyimana gets historic hat-trick from penalties as Chiefs sink Stellies

Burundian striker Bonfils-Caleb Bimenyimana created SA football history on a sunny Sunday afternoon at Cape Town Stadium when he scored a hat-trick from the penalty spot to help Kaizer Chiefs to a 3-1 DStv Premiership victory over Stellenbosch FC.

It was the first time in the history of the professional game in the country that a single player scored three goals in one match via spot-kicks.

While Stellies probably felt the first penalty should not have been awarded as Bimenyimana appeared to have been tripping as he challenged for the ball with Mogamad De Goede, the home side could not argue with the other two.

Fawaaz Basadien clearly blocked the ball with his arm after a high cross from the left for the second while for the third De Goede was duly given a red card for a professional foul on the Burundian who was clean on goal.

Bimenyimana took the kicks expertly, sending goalkeeper Sage Stephens the wrong way on all three occasions in the fourth minute of first half injury time and the 49th and 56th minutes.

Incredibly though, Stephens had been the star performer before the spot kicks — the bearded man on the Stellies last line of defence pulling off some brilliant saves in the initial half-hour of the match as Chiefs dominated play.

Such was his defensive prowess that he inspired his teammates to take the game to Chiefs and in one of their sorties upfront, Steve Barker’s men forced an uncharacteristic defensive error out of Chiefs.

Receiving a pass from Edmilson Dove with his back to goal, Njabulo Blom lost possession to Nhlanhla Mgaga who needed no second invitation as he took two strides towards goal before unleashing a rocket past Itumeleng Khune to give his side an unlikely 29th-minute lead.

When Khune went down injured a few minutes later and had to make way for Brandon Petersen it looked as though this was not going to be Amakhosi’s day.

But then the referee gave Amakhosi that seemingly soft penalty in injury time just before the break to mark the start of a historic afternoon, not only for Bimenyimana but local professional football too.

Assured of success, Chiefs coach Arthur Zwane gave Samkelo Zwane, the son of former Jomo Cosmos and Orlando Pirates midfielder Eugene Zwane, his debut near the end.

The victory saw Amakhosi register a third successive victory in the league and increase their points tally from 10 matches to 17 and remain in fourth spot on the table.

This represents a marked improvement to the slow start they had to the season, which had seen many of their supporters beginning to question whether it was the right decision to give the green-horned Zwane the coaching reins.

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