The Soweto giants, Kaizer Chiefs, kicked off their 2024/25 Premier Soccer League campaign by collecting three valuable points on Saturday (14/9) in Bloemfontein.

The Amakhosi claimed a 2-1 win at a sold-out Toyota Stadium, but they were made to work hard in the wet conditions for the victory against Maruma Gallants.

‘In their first home game, Gallants managed to attract a capacity crowd’

Gallants, who were playing in their first home game since relocating to Bloemfontein, managed to attract a capacity crowd and certainly did not disappoint after opening the scoring as soon as the 8th minute when Sekela Sithole found the back of the net.

The join was however short-lived with Mduduzi Shabalala equalising with a goal for Chiefs some eight minutes later.

Spiderman also came out to support Marumo Gallants. Picture: X

In the 76th minute, the match swung in favour of the visitors as Joseph Malongoane received his marching orders with a red card.

Just minutes later, Mfundo Vilakazi scored a cracking goal to seal the deal for the Chiefs and bank the three points.

While Gallants weren’t able to claim any points at home, they certainly were well supported, and if this is anything to go by, they may just as well win the hearts and minds of the Siwelele faithful.

THANK YOU SIWELELE SA MARUMO ???#PSL #siwelelesamasele #betway #marumogallantsfc pic.twitter.com/oDzmQTxiTh

— MARUMO GALLANTS FC (@_Marumogallants) September 15, 2024

The Amakhosi's next game will be on 25 September when they travel to face AmaZulu, who also endured a first-round defeat. Gallants, in turn, will hit the road for the first time when they travel to Lamontville to face Golden Arrows on Saturday.

In Saturday’s order first round results, Polokwane City beat AmaZulu 2-1, while Royal AM and Cape Town City FC played to a 1-1 draw.

On Sunday (22/9), Richards Bay are at home to TS Galaxy with this match kicking off at 15:00.

OFM Sport/Morgan Piek  cg