Maart's stunning goal claims the Soweto derby bragging rights for Chiefs

In what turned out to be a see-saw and thoroughly engaging football match, Arthur Zwane claimed the considerable scalp of an age-old nemesis with a tactical masterclass.

It was a solid 1-0 team performance by the men in white and yellow but this victory is largely due to Zwane’s superior tactics and a stupendous long-range goal by Yusuf Maart in front of a full and bouncing Soccer City.

Maart’s stunner in the late stages finished off things with a flourish for Chiefs but the foundations of his crucial and morale-boosting win, that has moved Chiefs to third on the DStv Premiership standings, was laid by the well-calculated tactical plan of Zwane.

Zwane employed versatile Njabulo Blom in front of the central defenders Zitha Kwinika and Edmilson Dove, nullifying the movements of the mightily dangerous Kermit Erasmus and Monnapule Saleng.

The move worked wonders as the presence of Blom behind central midfielders Maart and Nkosingiphile Ngcobo, who also had a storming game in a rare start, and in front of Kwinika and Dove largely eliminated the threat of Erasmus and Saleng.

Over the past few weeks, Pirates have been riding the crest of wave with the memorable win over Mamelodi Sundowns but Pirates coach José Riveiro was outthought and out planned by Zwane as the Buccaneers were brought down to earth by a disciplined Amakhosi.

The other critical component was left-back Sfiso Hlanti, who showed maturity and experience to stay competitive until the end of the game despite the fact that he was shown an early yellow card for roughing up Saleng after six minutes.

The fear was that Saleng would target Hlanti, who was skating on thin ice under the watchful eye of no-nonsense referee Victor Gomes, but the former Bafana Bafana defender stayed calm and executed his duties with aplomb.

Due to frustration of failing to crack the defensive wall that started with Blom, Erasmus and Saleng who, having terrorised Mamelodi Sundowns last weekend, were on occasions forced to play the ball back to their midfielders.

To show their plan was working to a tee, Chiefs’ head of technical and youth development Molefi Ntseki applauded some of their moves from his chair in the media section from which he watched the match.

Pirates coach José Riveiro didn’t tinker too much with his starting line-up as he only made two changes that saw Goodman Mosele coming in for the suspended Miguel Timm and attacker Zakhela Lepasa for Fortune Makaringe.

His ploy was to relentlessly attack Chiefs with Erasmus, Saleng and Lepasa but they were met with the brick wall of Blom, Kwinika and Dove who protected their goalkeeper Brandon Petersen.

Due to his watertight defence, Petersen was largely a spectator for most of the match as Chiefs didn’t have too many clear scoring opportunities and most of the play was in the midfield.

While Riveiro made three changes to his starting line-up, Zwane made three with Dillan Solomons, Khama Billiat and Ngcobo replacing Reeve Frosler, Bonfils-Caleb Bimenyimana and Kgaogelo Sekgota.

Though they defended very well, Amakhosi were also on point in attack and could easily have gone to the halftime break leading 2-0 if Ashley du Preez was not denied by Siyabonga Mpontshane.

In quick succession just before the half-hour mark, Du Preez was released from deep midfield but lacked the composure to pick a spot and put the ball in the back of the net.

His lack of killer instinct drew the attention of a section of the Amakhosi fans who wanted him to be replaced.

In those two highlighted moments where they were nearly punished by Du Preez, the Pirates central defence of Olisa Ndah and Nkosinathi Sibisi was found wanting as they could not deal with the defence splitting passes from the midfield.

On a few occasions where Pirates found themselves on the edge of the Chiefs penalty box, their focal point of danger was Erasmus but his trademark curling shots could not find the target.

During the halftime break, Riveiro made changes with Kabelo Dlamini coming on for ineffective Lepasa and Makaringe replacing Hotto who was not at his best on the left-wing.

There was drama aplenty, but the highlights were Maart’s stunner that embarrassed Mpontshane, who was out of his line, and the tactical masterclass by Zwane.

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