Mokoena was crowned PSL Footballer of the Season and DStv Premiership Midfielder of the Season, while Saleng walked away with the DStv Premiership Players’ Player of the Season and MTN8 Last Man Standing awards.

The DStv Premiership Coach of the Season award went to Mamelodi Sundowns coach Rhulani Mokwena.

Mamelodi Sundowns striker, Cassius Mailula, scooped the DStv Premiership Young Player of the Season award while Khuliso Mudau and Ronwen Williams won the DStv Premiership Defender and DStv Premiership Goalkeeper of the Season awards respectively.

Cape Town City youngster, Luphumlo Sifumba, grabbed the DStv Diski Challenge Player of the Season award.

Olwethu Makhanya and Iqraam Rayners (both Stellenbosch FC) took home the Nedbank Cup Most Promising Player of the Tournament and Nedbank Cup Player of the Tournament awards respectively.

FOOTBALLER OF THE SEASON: Teboho Mokoena (Mamelodi Sundowns)
DSTV PREMIERSHIP PLAYERS’ PLAYER OF THE SEASON: Monnapule Saleng (Orlando Pirates)
DSTV PREMIERSHIP COACH OF THE SEASON: Rhulani Mokwena (Mamelodi Sundowns)
DSTV PREMIERSHIP GOALKEEPER OF THE SEASON: Ronwen Williams (Mamelodi Sundowns)
DSTV PREMIERSHIP DEFENDER OF THE SEASON: Khuliso Mudau (Mamelodi Sundowns)
DSTV PREMIERSHIP MIDFIELDER OF THE SEASON: Teboho Mokoena (Mamelodi Sundowns)
DSTV PREMIERSHIP YOUNG PLAYER OF THE SEASON: Cassius Mailula (Mamelodi Sundowns)
DSTV PREMIERSHIP TOP GOAL SCORER: Khanyisa Mayo (Cape Town City)
Peter Shalulile (Mamelodi Sundowns
DSTV PREMIERSHIP GOAL OF THE SEASON: Yusuf Maart (Kaizer Chiefs)
MOTSEPE FOUNDATION CHAMPIONSHIP TOP GOAL SCORER: Ashley Cupido (Cape Town Spurs)
MTN8 LAST MAN STANDING: Monnapule Saleng (Orlando Pirates)
NEDBANK CUP MOST PROMISING PLAYER OF TOURNAMENT: Olwethu Makhanya (Stellenbosch FC)
NEDBANK CUP PLAYER OF THE TOURNAMENT: Iqraam Rayners (Stellenbosch FC)
DSTV DISKI CHALLENGE PLAYER OF THE SEASON: Luphumlo Sifumba (Cape Town City)
DSTV DISKI CHALLENGE TOP GOAL SCORER: Mervin Boji (Stellenbosch FC)
PSL CHAIRMAN’S AWARD: Peter “Squire” Mancer, Alex “Goldfinger” Shakoane

“The Motsepe Foundation Championship has been a tightly contested affair this season and the winner will only be known on the last day of the season.

“Cape Town Spurs, Casric Stars, and Polokwane City are all still in the running for the title and they will play their final matches on 14 May 2023 in Cape Town, Ekurhuleni, and Polokwane.”

Log leaders Cape Town Spurs have 56 points, second-placed Casric Stars have 55 points with third-placed Polokwane City with 54 points.

“Due to the distances and variables involved, the League has decided that the Motsepe Foundation Championship trophy, team medals, and winner’s cheque, will be awarded at a later stage,” the statement concluded.

This is the second consecutive defeat for Urban Warriors who lost 2-1 to Pretoria Callies in the last match.

Prince Nxumalo broke the deadlock in the 50th minute for the home before Ishmael Wadi made it 2-0 with 12 minutes remaining on the clock. Shaun Bartlett’s side are three points behind log leaders Casric Stars and second placed Polokwane City.

Casric Stars bounced back from a disappointing defeat to Kaizer Chiefs in the Nedbank Cup to beat La Masia 0. Lehlohonolo Majela scored the only goal of the match in the 20th minute.

Muzomuhle Khanyi scored a crucial last-minute winner for Hungry Lions against Uthongathi. Hungry Lions are lying on position four on the log and have a good chance of qualifying for promotional Play Offs.

Polokwane City dropped two crucial points against Amatuks.

Motsepe Foundation Championship Roundup
JDR Stars 2 (Prince Nxumalo 50 Ishmael Wadi 78)
Cape Town Spurs 0

Casric Stars FC 1 (Lehlohonolo Majela 20)
La Masia 0

Hungry Lions FC 1 (Muzomuhle Khanyi 89)
Uthongathi FC 0

Polokwane City 0
University of Pretoria 0

Pretoria Callies 1 (Malefole Molaba 18)
Venda Football Academy 0

Cape Town Spurs goals came from Therlo Moosa, who netted a brace, before Boitumelo Radiopane scored the third with five minutes remaining on the clock. Shepherd Mongoale and Thuso Mogale were on the scoresheet for the visitors.

The win moves the Cape side on top of the table with 47 points – one point ahead of Polokwane City who played one game less.

At the bottom of the table, Black Leopards beat Magesi 1-0 thanks to a first half goal from Matimu Tshabalala.

Hungry Lions beat University of Pretoria 2-1 to remain in top the four with seven matches remaining in the season.

*Image courtesy of Cape Town Spurs

Cape Town Spurs 3 (Therlo Moosa 18, 55 Boitumelo Radiopane 85)
Baroka FC 2 (Shepherd Mangoale 28 Thuso Mogale 90)

Magesi FC 0
Black Leopards 1 (Matimu Tshabalala 14)

Platinum City Rovers 0
NB Lamasia 2 (Joshua Sauls 56 Mogamad May 60)

University of Pretoria 1 (Thokozani Sekotlong 70)
Hungry Lions FC 2 (Katlego Cwinyane 17 Jackson Dondolo 73)

It was the third-placed DStv Premiership and third-bottom Motsepe Foundation Championship team when Pirates took on Venda FA at Orlando Stadium.

Jose Riveiro made three changes from the team that beat Swallows 4-1 last week. Nkosinathi Sibisi, Ndabayithethwa Ndlondlo and Kermit Erasmus were back in the starting line-up replacing Sandile Mthethwa, Makhehleni Makhaula and Terrence Dzvukamanja.

Pirates controlled the match in the opening minutes of the match but failed to beat the Venda FA defence. But the Buccaneers managed to break deadlock on the 23rd minute when Monnapule Saleng played a diagonal pass to Deon Hotto on the left. The Namibian played a perfect cross for Kermit Erasmus to head home the opening goal of the match.

But three minutes into the second half it was former Kaizer Chiefs striker, Edmore Chirambadare, who broke the Bucs’ hearts with a great equalizer. Hotto received the ball inside his own box and ran across the field, but his second touch was too heavy and it went straight to Chirambadare who stabbed the ball into the back of the net.

With 20 minutes remaining on the clock, Orlando Pirates, almost made it 2-1 when Thembinkosi Lorch broke through the Venda A defence and curled the ball into the upright.

With less than ten minutes remaining in extra time, Lorch won the match for Bucs when he ran between Venda FA defenders before lobbing the ball over goalkeeper Harold Ndlovu to make the score 2-1.

Pirates will join Mamelodi Sundowns, Dondol Stars, Sekhukhune United, Royal AM and Chippa United in the Nedbank Cup quarter-finals.

Matches between TS Galaxy and Stellenbosch and Kaizer Chiefs and Casric Stars will be decided on Sunday.

The Buccaneers will host the Motsepe Foundation Championship team on Saturday, a week beating Swallows 4-1. Despite chasing Caf Champions League spot and Nedbank Cup, the Spanish-mentor will not rotate his squad.

“We don’t rotate players especially now that we are playing one game per week,” the Pirates coach said during the Nedbank Cup media day.

“If you see any change from the team that played against Swallows [last week] it’s because someone is not available or because the coach decides to introduce different player, different profile, different adjustment but not because of rotation.

“We can only talk about rotation in a situation where we have to play a game every two, three or four days. But right now, that is not the case. Our next opponent will be one week after this game.”

The 47-year-old says he has already done his home on his Nedbank Cup opponents.

“Our coaching staff had an opportunity to watch a couple of their games live, nowadays if you don’t get the information about your opponent it’s because you are not doing your job. That is not our case.

“We tried to know as much as we can about our opponents, it doesn’t matter which division they are in. If you talk about comparisons between All Stars and Venda – they are totally different teams. FC All Stars is a well organised team on the ball giving importance to the possession. Venda is a bit more physical, they try to arrive in the half of the opponent as soon as possible. But it’s difficult especially against a team like that.”

By Zola Doda

Amakhosi will host the Motsepe Foundation Championship side in the Nedbank Cup Round of 16 after keeping two clean sheets against Richards Bay and Orlando Pirates.

“Preparation has gone really well,” Sheppard told kaizerchiefs.com during the Nedbank Cup media day. “In two games now, two clean sheets. We are gaining momentum. The energy has been really good and the players are looking forward to the match.

“It’s about momentum, not just in the Nedbank Cup but also for the upcoming league games. We want to go forward in the right headspace with the right energy and that’s what we have been seeing from the players.”

In 2011, Amakhosi were knocked out of the Nedbank Cup by third tier side Baroka FC and in 2019 lost in the final to First Division side TS Galaxy. But Sheppard insists that the team is looking ahead.

“You don’t want to look to the past. We are looking ahead,” he said.

“If you take the Richards Bay game, it’s a totally different squad and we have to look towards the opposition we have to face. The guys are focused on that, not on what happened before.”

“Since the draw we have obviously been monitoring them. We have seen one or two of their performances which has given us an opportunity to analyse them, so we have a little bit of information but I think the main focus will be on us and how we set up.

In as much as it’s helpful to know about our opponent, we still have to go out there and play our game.”

Amazulu lost 5-4 on penalties to the ABC Motsepe League side after the match ended 1-1 after extra time.

“First of all, congratulations to the opponent, they deserve the win,” Folz told Supersport after the match.

“During the match we put ourselves in trouble by missing so many chances, we hit the post twice, we had chances, four or five yards away from the net and we missed the target.

“When you are that poor at finishing you are opening the door for anything to happen. You also opening the door for extra time and penalties. When it gets to penalties – if you are not clinical on your execution tactically the opponent will be [clinical] and that is what happened today.

“In terms of creative sequences offensively, we were fine but in terms of finishing we were extremely poor.

“As much I want to congratulate the opponent, I think we gave them an opportunity to go through and we can only blame ourselves.”

By Zola Doda

Midway through the first half Gabadinho Mhango was denied by the post when his shot rattled the upright.

Usuthu took the lead early in the second half when Pule Ekstein placed the ball into the back of the net after a great inter-passing move between Mhango and Larry Bwalya.

Fifteen minutes into the second half, Revaldo Fox made it 1-1 from a corner kick and took the game to extra time.

But Usuthu finished extra time with 10-men after Keagan Buchanan received a second yellow card for a foul.

In the penalty shootouts, Mhango missed the first spot kick and the home side converted all five penalties to progress to the quarterfinals.

“Before the game I hoped and I prayed that our boys would come to the party and they did and that is we wanted from them,” co-coach Khuliso Rashamuse told Supersport after the match.

“After playing for 90 minutes, myself and Vini [co-coach] encouraged them and told them that we didn’t have anything to lose. We told them to go the extra mile and that was the difference between winning and losing the match. They came to the party, they danced, they enjoyed and had fun.

“Penalties are lotteries and anything can happen. And the football gods were on our side. We managed to score and our goalkeeper [Sphamandla Gumede] did well – that was a championship winning performance from him. We wanted it the most and that is where we won.

“This is a great achievement for the team and the chairman of the team has been through a lot over the past few season and this will bring joy into his life and heart. We want to remain humble and respectful and focus on the league because if we get promoted, we go to the Motsepe Foundation Championship our lives will change.”
By Zola Doda

JDR Stars made double substitutions after the interval introducing Nkosingiphile Mtambo for Alphonia Lekeno with Azola Tshobeni coming in for Seun Ledwaba. But the move backfired as Thato Mohlame made 2-1 two minutes after the break. Mondli Mbanjwa scored the final goal the match to hand the visitors a 3-1 win.

Hungry Lions FC 1 (Muzomuhle Khanyi 86)
Cape Town Spurs 1 (Ashley Cupido 60)
Hungry Lions missed a crucial first half penalty in a 1-1 draw at home to Cape Town Spurs. Ten minutes into the second half the visitors made three substitutions introducing Cohen Stander, Asenele Velebayi and Boitumelo Radiopane for Rushwin Dortley, Khaya Mfecane and Michael Morton.

The move paid off when they took the lead five minutes later through Ashley Cupido. With four remaining, Hungry Lions scored an equalizer through Muzomuhle Khanyi to make the final score 1-1.

Baroka FC 1 (Dan Ndlovu 65)
La Masia 1 (Yussuf Japie 90)
Baroka conceded a late goal to draw 1-1 at home to La Masia. The hope side scored through Dan Ndlovu before Yussuf Jappie made it 1-1 in the last minute.

All Stars 1
Platinum City Rovers 1

Casric Stars 0
Magesi 0