The KZN side was promoted to the DStv Premiership last season and finished on position 13.

“Richards Bay Football Club would like to confirm the appointment of Kaitano Tembo as the new head coach,” read the club statement.

“Kaitano Tembo is a familiar face in the South African football, he has been in DStv Premiership with the likes of Supersport United and Sekhukhune United respectively. We welcome the coach and wish him all the best.”

Orlando Pirates played to a disappointing 1-1 draw against Royal AM at Orlando Pirates. The Buccaneers were denied a goal scoring opportunity on the 17th minute when Kermit Erasmus’ shot was cleared off the goal line by Jabulani Ncobeni, who was starting his first game of the season.

Pirates took the lead eleven minutes into the second half when debutant, Relebohile Ratomo’s shot deflected off Elias Pelembe for an own goal.

Menzi Masuku made it 1-1 inside stoppage time to give to deny Orlando Pirates seventh consecutive win.

At Peter Mokaba Stadium, TS Galaxy’s Given Msimango stoppage time penalty denied Sekhukhune United three points. Chibuike Ohizu opened the scoring for the home side 18 minutes into the match.

Cape Town and Golden Arrows played to a 0-0 draw in the only match that failed to produce a goal.
In KZN, Chippa United came from 2-0 down to beat Richards Bay 3-2 in an entertaining match.

Richards Bay took a 2-0 lead thanks to Sakhile Hlongwa and Somila Ntsundwana’s goals. Etiosa Ighodaro made reduced the defeat before Aviwe Mqokozo scored a second half brace to secure three points for the visitors.

At Princess Magogo Stadium, Amazulu came from 2-0 to draw 2-2 with Mamelodi Sundowns. Bongani Zungu punished Usuthu defence when he scored the first goal of the match. Eight minutes after the interval, Peter Shalulile scored his 101 goal from Lebohang Maboe’s pass.

Former Mamelodi Sundowns defender, Ramahlwe Mphahlele made it 2-1 with a header denying Ronwen Williams a clean sheet. Junior Dion completed the comeback on the 84th minute with a well-taken strike to make the final score 2-2.

At Harry Gwala Stadium, Maritzburg United played to a 2-2 draw against Marumo Gallants in a relegation battle. Brandon Theron and Amadou Soukouna scored Maritzburg United’s goals with Ranga Chivaviro and Mpho Mvelase scoring for the visitors.

The Buccaneers made one change from the team that beat Supersport United 1-0 with Terrence Dzvukamnja coming in for Kermit Erasmus. Richards Bay head coach Vasili Manousakis, who was in charge for the first time, also introduced Malcom Jacobs in goals.

On the 27th minute Vincent Pule’s in-swing free kick was well saved by Jacobs on the near post.
Four minutes later Dzvukamanja opened the scoring with a well-taken header form Kabelo Dlamini’s cross.

In the second half, the home side kept giving away ball possession too easy and they were almost punished when Thembinkosi Lorch rounded the goalkeeper but only to balloon his shot over the bar.

On the 58th minute Richards Bay had a chance to level matters when Yanela Mbuthuma found himself one-on-one with Sipho Chaine. But Mbuthuma failed to lob the ball over the advancing Pirates goalkeeper.

Midway through the second half, Mannapule Saleng’s cross deflected into Richards Bay defender, Ntsikelelo Nyauza, and almost went in for an own goal. But Jacobs was the to make another crucial save and kept his side in the match.

On the 65th minute, Mbuthuma was lucky not to receive a red-card when he made an over-the-top tackle on Nkosinathi Sibisi. Six minutes later, a miss communication in the Pirates defence saw Mbuthuma coming inches close from scoring his lob over Chaine went outside.

On the 90th minute, Saleng put matters beyond doubt when converted a cross to make it 2-0.

The former Cape Town City assistant coach started the season as a co-head coach alongside Pitso Dladla.

“Richards Bay Football Club would like to announce the appointment of Mr. Vasili Manousakis as the first team head coach on a permanent basis till the end of the current season, with an option to sign for two years.

“Mr. Pitso Dladla and Mr. Ronnie Gabriel will remain as assistant coaches.”

“It is with deep sadness to announce that Richards Bay Football Club has untimely lost one of the midfielders, Siphamandla ‘Spepe’ Mtolo,” read the club statement.

“He collapsed this morning during training. The club is not in a position to provide further information at this stage and ask that his family’s privacy is respected in this difficult time of bereavement.

“His presence both on and off the pitch will be solely missed. Thoughts and prayers of everyone in Richards Bay Football Club are with his family, friends and loved ones.”

Rest In Peace Siphamandla

Amakhosi started the year with three successive defeats against Sekhukhune United, Amazulu and Mamelodi Sundowns.

Despite two wins against Orlando Pirates and Richards Bay, Zwane believes that there’s still a long way to go.

“We started off brightly [against Richards Bay] and fortunately, we got a goal from a dead ball situation,” the Chiefs coach told journalist at King Zwelithini Stadium.

“From there we created another two, three or four chance to increase the scoreline but we did not punish them. They got a red card but we took the foot off the pedal – we did not put them under pressure. I believe had we done that consistently we would have had a big chance of scoring more goals.

“In the second half we were playing in patches – we made some promising moves and we could have capitalized again but we did not take our chances. But we still have a long to go.”

Chiefs will be missing key players in next Nedbank Cup clash against Motsepe Foundation Championship side Casric Stars

“Against Richards Bay we started without Ash [Ashley du Preeze] and next week we will start without Zitha [Kwinika] and Christian [Saile] because of suspension. We are struggling to keep a consistent line-up so that we can build on it.

“But the positive thing to come here at King Zwelithini, an away game against a team that is doing well to grind results. And we will build on it going forward. And I must give credit to the boys even though I believe we could have done better in terms of taking chances that we created.”

By Zola Doda

At Chatsworth Stadium
Royal AM 2 (Thabo Matlaba 45 Ruzaigh Gamildien 80)
Sekhukhune United 0
Royal AM got back to winning ways when they beat Sekhukhune United 2-0 with goals coming in each half from Thabo Matlaba and Ruzaigh Gamildien. The win takes John Maduka inside the top eight.

At Harry Gwala Stadium
Maritzburg United 1 (Bradley Cross 53)
Cape Town City 2 (Mduduzi Mdantsane 64 Khanyisa Mayo 68)
With only five wins so far this season, relegation threatened Maritzburg United squandered a 1-0 lead to lose 2-1 at home to Cape Town City. Maritzburg new signing Bradley Cross got his first goal when he tapped in Amadou Soukouna’s cross. But the visitors responded with two quick goals inside four minutes: Mduduzi Mdantsane equalised in the 64th before Khanyisa Mayo made it 2-1 four minutes later.

By Zola Doda

Amakhosi started the year with three straight losses in a row against Sekhukhune United, Amazulu and Mamelodi Sundowns before turning the corner against Royal AM.

After the 1-0 against Pirates, Zwane has urged his team to remain consistent.

“It’s a matter of consistency and making sure you put players in the right frame of mind all the time and avoiding choosing the games you peak for,” Zwane told Kaizerchiefs.com.

“You know coming from a Derby, whether you come from a loss or a win, it takes a lot out of the players. We just hope we have fully recovered for this next assignment, because it’s equally important for us to grind out a result so we maintain our momentum.

On Saturday, they will play against fourth place Richards Bay. Amakhosi beat the newly promoted side 1-0 at the beginning of the season.

“When you watch them from the beginning of the season they use a lot of energy. They have very good, high-quality players in the middle of the pitch and their technical staff is equally good.

“They’ve been together for some time and have had new additions to boost the technical team. They’ve got a good team of youngsters, with a great balance of bringing in the experience of players who have played at the highest level for quite some time, like Ntsikelelo Nyauza, to guide the young ones.

“When you look at where they are on the log and how they’ve been doing, they’ve done great, they’ve done well so far. That alone tells you that you are playing against a team that can compete and which has very good players.”

Ashley du Preeze will miss the match due an injury he suffered in the Soweto Derby.

By Zola Doda

This weekend Amakhosi takes on Richards Bay at the King Zwelithini Stadium and a win will move them to fourth place behind Orlando Pirates.
“Going into this game we are confident,” the Mozambican international tells Kaizerchiefs.com. “

“We have been training hard. In training, the main focus is on what we can improve on and maintain the things we have been doing well. We shall try by all means to go there and claim the three points.”

“It’s a game of football and anything can happen but we are going to go there, give everything on the field and we hope to return to Joburg with three points in the bag.

“We are aiming for Champions League qualification. We need to keep going until the end and it’s a position we have to fight for and I think we can do it.”.

A week before the Soweto Derby, Dove missed the league match against Golden Arrows due to illness. It was his long ball which was headed home for an own goal by Olisa Ndah for the only goal of the match against Pirates.

“Going into the game [against Pirates] we knew it was going to be difficult. It is always difficult playing against Pirates but we did everything the coach told us to do during the week at training, and I guess it worked. We played as a team and at the end of the day we got rewarded for our hard work at training.”

“It was a great game and it was good to see our fans back at the stadium, packed into the stands. All we could see were yellow (gold) jerseys.”

By Zola Doda

Spain – LaLiga Santander
Athletic Bilbao 4 (Oihan Sancet 10, 75 Oihan Sancet 35 Yeray Alvarez 44)
Cadiz 1 (Gonzalo Escalante 25)

Germany – Bundesliga
Augsburg 1 (Mergim Berisha 55)
Bayer Leverkusen 0

African Nations Championship (Chan)
Third Place Play-off
Niger 0
Madagascar 1 (Jean Razafindrakoto 89)

England – Championship
West Bromwich Albion 1 (Grady Diangana 15)
Coventry City 0

Eredivisie – Netherlands
Fortuna Sittard 0
Sparta Rotterdam 0

Romania – Liga 1
Chindia Targoviste 2 (G. Coope 9 C. Negut 81)
UTA Arad 1 (Virgiliu Postolachi 31)

U Craiova 1948 5 (A. Chitu 12, 25 C. Dragos Albu 36 Yassine Bahassa 81 Vladislav Blanuta 90)
Universitatea Cluj 0

Turkish Super League
Altay 0
Adanaspor 1 (Hadi Sacko 90 penalty)

Atlantic Cup: Finals
Halmstads BK 0
Viking 2 (Niklas Sandberg 3 Sander Svendsen 89)

Brondby IF 2 (Daniel Wass 68 penalty Simon Hedlund 83)
AIK 1 (Axel Bjornstrom 48)

Austria – OFB Cup
Wolfsberger AC 1 (Thai Baribo 64)
Rapid Wien 3 (Michael Sollbauer 83 Ante Bajic 106, 108)

FC Salzburg 1 (Amar Dedic 76)
Sturm Graz 1 (Jusuf Gazibegovic 37
*Sturm Graz wins 5-4 on penalties

Chile – Primera Division
Coquimbo Unido 1 (Gonzalo Tapia 8 Own Goal)
Universidad Catolica 1 (Mauricio Isla 31)

Mexico – Premier Division
Atletico de San Luis 2 (Javier Guemez 54 Leo Bonatini 60 penalty)
Puebla 0

Northern Ireland – Irish Cup
Bangor 1 (Ben Arthurs 66)
Crusaders 2 (Philip Lowry 28, 47)

South Africa – DStv Premiership
Moroka Swallows 1 (Kagiso Malinga 81)
Richards Bay 0

Maritzburg United 1 (Kwame Peprah 32)
AmaZulu FC 1 (Guily Cyprien Manziba 90)

Motsepe Championship
La Masia 2
Black Leopards 0

Venda 0
Magesi FC 1