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The Absa Premiership League is more competitive this year than it has ever been, with interesting developments every week. Football 365.co.za took a look at all this weekend’s matches.

Bloemfontein Celtic 4  Ajax Cape Town 2

A princely 86th minute goal from Nigerian striker Prince Olomu paved the way for Bloemfontein Celtic’s rousing 4-2 Premier League win over Ajax Cape Town at a sun-scorched Seisa Ramabodu Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

AmaZulu 0  Jomo Cosmos 0

The Premiership relegation battle between struggling AmaZulu and bottom-of-the-log Jomo Cosmos fizzled into a damp squib at a wet Moses Mabhida Stadium with neither side managing to score in a dull 90 minutes.

Bidvest Wits 2  Golden Arrows 1

Goals by Sifiso Myeni and Mark Haskins sunk Golden Arrows and bought Wits their first win in 15 games on Saturday night.  Wits won 2-1 with Myeni netting the opener from the spot in the 25th minute thanks largely to new signing Sifiso Vilakazi. The former Ajax Cape Town hitman earned the penalty following an adjudged foul by Msekeli Mvalo.

SuperSport United 3  Mpumalanga Black Aces 0

SuperSport United maintained their six-point lead at the top of the PSL standings with 3-0 win against Mpumalanga Black Aces at Loftus on Saturday evening.

Sundowns 2 Kaizer Chiefs 1

A late goal from Siyanda Xulu was enough to give Mamelodi Sundowns three crucial points as they beat Kaizer Chiefs 2-1 at the Moses Mabhida Stadium.

Santos 0  Orlando Pirates 0

Orlando Pirates were once again held to a goalless draw, this time against Santos, who also slipped further away from the title race at Athlone Stadium on Friday night.

Absa Premier Soccer League Standings

Supersport still tops the table after this weekend with 47 points followed by Sundowns at 41 and Santos at 39 (Sundowns and Santos have only played 22 games – one less than the log leaders).  Kaizer Chiefs is next with 38 points from 23 games with Orlando Pirates on their heels with 37 from 24. Right up behind the leaders are Bloemfontein Celtic and Ajax Cape town – both on 34 points from 24 games.

See the Premier Soccer League Standings

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What must Golden Arrows do to play a match for 90 minutes without the lights failing? Once again, the Orlando Stadium’s lights went out – this time only for a matter of minutes, but it must put the players off their stride – and Arrows came down to the ground hard as they were beaten by Chiefs 2 – 0 in the PSL clash.

Amakhosi fans will celebrate the goals from Reneilwe Letsholonyane and Kaizer Motaung Jr that handed Kaizer Chiefs coach Vladimir Vermezovic the win and the three points.

With just a couple of minutes left on the clock some of the lights failed but wisely the referee decided to play out the remaining time in the dark rather than keep fans waiting.

Man of the Match

Reneilwe Letsholonyane was named man of the match in last night’s PSL clash against Golden Arrows. The Kaizer Chiefs’ midfielder scored the first of the two goals and set up team-mate Kaizer Motaung Jr for the second.

Photo: Reneilwe Letsholonyane – Man of the Match. soccerladuma.co.za

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The rescheduled MTN Wafa Wafa Super 8 Final will take place this weekend at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto between Ajax Cape Town and Lamontville Golden Arrows.

The final had to be rescheduled to 24 October 2009 after the announcement of the South African squad for the FIFA Under-20 World Cup -due to the fact that the Amajita squad contained five Ajax Cape Town players

Urban Warriors Take on Abafana Bes’thende

Now the Urban Warriors and their youngsters, (who reached the final sixteen in Egypt wit the South African U20 team) are ready to take on Abafana Bes’thende right in the heart of Soweto.

Ajax Players Could Each Get R100 000 for a Win

Ajax Cape Town players who are waiting for their new coach Foppe de Haan to join them have an added incentive – over and above pride – Club CEO George Comitis said the players deserved to be rewarded for their hard work and has promised each of the players a bonus of more than R100 000 if they win the MTN8 Final against Golden Arrows at Orlando Stadium on Saturday night. (Well he promised the players R4 million of the R8 million prize if they bring home the silverware).

For this match, caretaker coach, Jan Pruijn will be on the bench although their new coach, will be there keeping an eye on his new team. He will start his job with Ajax on 2 November.

Ajax Cape Town vs Lamontville Golden Arrows

So what about the match? And is the pitch ok at the Orlando Stadium?

Well. The Amajita laities are full of fire, they are determined the Ajax is going to lift the trophy – (I’m sure they are also thinking of what they will do with the $$)

Talking to KickOff.com the players, who include Thulani Serero, Thulani Hlatshwayo, Sameehg Doutie, George Maluleka and Tawfeeq Salie say they want to win the Cup by all means. Doutie says that they are focused to win the trophy.

“We will be focused on the day. Whether I play or my other teammates play, we all have the same vision, and that is winning the MTN8 Final. We have won other trophies but not the MTN8 and this is our time,” he adds.

Golden Arrows Striker Richard Henyekane

If there is a man on the field who knows he is going to be marked Abafana Bes’thende meet the Urban Warriors, it is Golden Arrows striker Richard Henyekane. However, according to football365, Henyekane is confident Arrows will finish Ajax Cape Town in regulation time.

The Durban outfit will be playing in their first major cup final after ousting Free State Stars and AmaZulu.

The ‘Kimberley Express’ has been in fine form in the cup but has warned the Urban Warriors it would be wrong to only keep an eye on him.

“But if Ajax is going to watch me only then they’ll be making a mistake. We have very good players in every position and each one of them can do damage.”

Transport Arrangements for Ajax and Golden Arrows Supporters from Cape Town and from Durban

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This was a high scoring weekend of excitement and upsets at the ABSA Premiership around South Africa – seven goals were scored on Sunday.

Sunday Matches in the ABSA Premiership

Ajax Cape Town 0 – Kaizer Chiefs 3

Kaizer Chiefs showed their class once again at Newlands Stadium on Sunday afternoon when they beat Ajax Cape Town 3-0. Fortunately for them their supporters behaved this time, not like the previous encounter between the two sides at the same venue when Amakhosi fans behaved like true soccer hooligans when their side was unceremoniously dumped out of the MTN8 tournament by the Urban Warriors . OK, the ref was dodgy, but the violence and damage resulted  in Chiefs getting the biggest fine in PSL history.

This time it was a different Kaizer Chiefs that ran onto the pitch and lifted themselves smartly from the bottom of the PSL league. I know that the fans, who will never loose faith in their team will be on a high now, expecting  their team to perform like this for the rest of the season.

Stunning Opening Goal by Kaizer Motaung Jnr

Kaizer Motaung Jnr, who has had to endure boos and ridicule from his own team’s supporters after struggling to find form this season, started Chiefs’ dramatic return to form with a stunning volleyed opening goal in the 29th minute that made keeper Hans Vonk looking like he was standing still, waiting for a taxi.

The other goals were scored by Thabang Rooi and Nkosinathi Nhleko, as the visiting side enjoyed superiority throughout the match.

In fairness to the Cape Town side, however, it needs to be pointed out that the Urban Warriors have a contingent of five players currently in Egypt with the South African team at the World Under-20 championships and some others on suspension.

Bidvest Wits – Jomo Cosmos 1

Bidvest Wits fortunes in the PSL continued to soar after they beat struggling Jomo Cosmos 3-1 in a hard fought clash at Milpark on Sunday.

Clever Boys Great Season Continues

The win sees the Clever Boys enjoy one of the best starts to a Premier Soccer League season.

Coach Roger De Sa’s men are in second spot with the same points as Bloemfontein Celtic – 17 points from their nine)fixtures, only two adrift of leaders Orlando Pirates. (Wits have a better goal difference than Celtic).

Fabricio Rodrigues, Calvin Kadi and Marawaan Bantam scored for the Students, while Koena Mathopa countered for Ezenkosi.

Saturday Matches Absa Premier Leagues

SuperSport United 1 Golden Arrows 1

SuperSport United and Golden Arrows  drew 1-1 at the Super Stadium on Saturday night.  It was Arrows’ seventh draw in 10 league fixtures played so far this season and the result ended United’s three match winning streak

Free State Stars 0 – Orlando Pirates 0

Free State Stars managed to hold league leaders Orlando Pirates to a 0-0 draw at the Charles Mopeli Stadium on Saturday.

Bloemfontein Celtic 2 – Platinum Stars 1

Bloemfontein Celtic continued their impressive unbeaten run by claiming the three points from their encounter with Platinum Stars at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium on Saturday evening.

AmaZulu FC 2 – 1  Moroka Swallows

Check out the 2009/2010 Log

Photo: Kaizer Motaung Jnr - Kickoff

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Well Ajax Cape Town didn’t quite get the three goal haul against Platinum Stars that they hoped for at the Moruleng Stadium last night, but the Urban Warriors managed a remarkable 1 – 0 victory over the misfiring Tycoons in an Absa Premiership match.

Ajax Cape Town 1 – Platinum Stars 0

Platinum Stars launched the ball at the goal enough times to no avail.

Ajax striker Dipsy Selolwane scored the only goal of the game in the second half to give the visitors three points.

Stars Let Down by Their Finishing

Just like they have done in the past four games where they failed to score, Stars looked impressive in their general play only to be let down by their finishing.

In the closing stages Stars threw everything they had at Ajax but they just could not beat their defence and remain in 14th place while the winners move up to third on the Premiership table.

Golden Arrows 1- AmaZulu 0

At the Chatsworth Stadium in Durban, it was a repeat of the two Wafa Wafa matches, when Golden Arrows took down AmaZulu 1-0.

AmaZulu coach Neil Tovey’s disastrous season continues. Richard Henyekane scored the only goal of the game to give Arrows their third victory against AmaZulu this season.

AmaZulu’s Sixth Defeat

According the PSL website, Tovey’s men did come agonizingly close to salvaging a point three minutes from time. Former Black Leopards striker Myron Shongwe rose above the Arrows defence to head home a Marc Van Heerden cross but it hit the woodwork.

This was AmaZulu’s sixth defeat of the season and they are bottom of the Premiership table with only five points.

Photo: Dipsy Selolwane, Ajax Striker – PSL Website

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