It will take Chiefs’ Nasreddine Nabi many weeks and months to come to have finally beaten Pirates, while outgoing Bucs coach Jose ‘Spanish Guitar’ Riveiro leaves the Sea Robbers on a dented high. Photo: Sipho Siso

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Kaizer Chiefs’ astounding Nedbank Cup run of form has paid dividends as the club
obliterated the 10-year trophy drought by annexing the ‘Davids versus Goliaths’ cup
with a big payday cheque of R7 million.

AmaKhosi beat Orlando Pirates 2-1 at Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium on May 10
in one of the most entertaining derbies of the Soweto giants, which came hot on the
heels of a second leg derby of the local Betway Premiership on May 3 at Soweto’s
FNB Stadium.

In this premiership game, the Buccaneers triumphed over AmaKhosi with a similar
come-from-behind 2-1 scoreline at a packed to the rafters FNB Stadium. Although
this cup derby that marks derby number 184, was taken to a smaller stadium
compared to the FNB, it was equally packed with fans.

Chiefs started the game in a similar fashion of the previous league encounter and
opened the scoring with a penalty kick from the boot of former Mamelodi Sundowns
play maker Gaston Sirino, which never game Bucs keeper Sipho Chaine any chance
to rattle the back of the net.

This gave rise to a feeling that the Sea Robers would win the game, as they have
come to be known as masters of a comeback syndrome. Most of the games that
Pirates has won this season were a come from behind while it tended to lose most of
those were it scored first.

The same happened in the last leg of the league game. Chiefs scored first and
Pirates came from behind to snatch the tie 2-1. Just like the recent league derby, the Soweto giants went to the oranges break of the Nedbank Cup final tied 1-1, with an
equalising goal from a free header of the gangling Pirates striker Evidence Makgopa.

The winner came from the boot of captain fantastic, Yusuf Maart, who received the
ball inside the Bucs’ 18-area and unleashed a powerful strike that beat Chaine hands
down in 79 th minute of the game. Maart’s telling runs into the Bucs box and
constantly being a menace, coupled with his winning goal, earned him Man of the
Match title.

The Buccaneers wasted numerous clear-cut goals that could have put them firmly in
the driving seat of the game. The misses turned out to advantage AmaKhosi, as the
side steadfastly defended the dying minutes lead up until the end of the five minutes
of time added on for injuries and other stoppages.

When referee Masixole Bambiso blew his whistle to signal the end of the battle, this
sparked an unprecedented frenzy of celebrations on the Chiefs technical bench, the
VIP section which included club owner Kaizer Motaung, all his sons and daughters,
who are club officials at various ranks.

The supporters, who thronged the stadium that was turned into a sea of black and
gold colours of AmaKhosi, savoured the victory like there was no tomorrow while
their Bucs counterparts sobbed endlessly while others cast a ghost shadow that
resembled the Ghost nickname of the club.

It was like the end of the world for both the victors and the vanquished. I am sure
Chiefs faithful and club officials marked the rare victory and the end of the trophy
drought and partied well into the weary hours of the morning in their homes and hotel
rooms respectively.