Reserve Zuma strikes twice as Kaizer Chiefs extend league lead

• Dumisani Zuma scored twice as table-toppers Kaizer Chiefs defeated bottom club Chippa United 2-0 Wednesday.
• Usually a reserve, Zuma staked a claim for a first team place against arch rivals Orlando Pirates.
• Baroka improved on recent form to contain 2016 African champions Sundowns in northern city.

JOHANNESBURG: Dumisani Zuma scored twice as table-toppers Kaizer Chiefs defeated bottom club Chippa United 2-0 Wednesday and stretched their South African Premiership lead to seven points.

While a Chiefs side packed with reserves took maximum points in southern city Port Elizabeth, second-placed Mamelodi Sundowns were held 0-0 by Baroka at the other end of the country.

Usually a reserve, Zuma staked a claim for a first team place against arch rivals Orlando Pirates this Saturday with clinical finishing.

He put Chiefs ahead on 67 minutes through a shot from just outside the box that flew into the corner of the net past Cameroonian goalkeeper and Chippa captain Patrick Tignyemb.

With Chippa tiring in the closing stages having been involved in a cup tie three days ago that went to extra time, Chiefs took advantage to double their advantage in stoppage time.

Zuma dribbled into the area and fired through a crowd of players and beyond Tignyemb to leave Chippa last and winless in 10 league matches this season.

"We controlled the match and it was a question of time before we scored," said Chiefs' German coach Ernst Middendorp, who is hoping to end a four-season run by the club without a trophy.

"More than half of those who played last weekend were rested so that they will be fresh for the Pirates match this weekend if selected.

'Cannot ignore'

"You cannot ignore a player who scores twice and we will have to consider Dumisani when selecting the team for the Soweto derby."

Baroka improved on recent form to contain 2016 African champions Sundowns in northern city Polokwane, but fell one place to second last because AmaZulu triumphed.

AmaZulu defeated Stellenbosch 2-0 in Durban thanks to the predatory instincts of two-goal Bongi Ntuli, and rose three places to 12th.

He broke the deadlock by converting a penalty on 14 minutes and assured his club of maximum points with a stoppage-time goal.

Cape Town City began life without coach and former UEFA Champions League winner Benni McCarthy by hammering Polokwane City 5-3 with Kermit Erasmus bagging a brace.

City were four goals ahead three minutes from time with Mozambican Edmilson Dove among the goals before Zimbabwean Charlton Mushamba netted twice for Polokwane to complete a hat-trick.

McCarthy, part of the Porto 2004 Champions League-winning team, was fired Monday after a seven-match winless league run and rows with chairman John Comitis over transfer decisions.

Dutch coach Jan Olde Riekerink, 56, who has worked in the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, Ukraine, China and Turkey, will succeed McCarthy.