KAIZER Chiefs and Zimbabwe striker Matthew Rusike scored his first goal for “AmaKhosi” on Tuesday night, the same day fellow countryman Cuthbert Malajila scored his eighth goal of the season for Maritzburg United in the Absa Premiership.
Report by Henry Mhara Sports Reporter
Malajila moved to second in the race for the South African golden boot award. Rusike struck from the edge of the box to give his side a first half lead before top goalscorer Bernard Parker ensured a convincing win for Kaizer Chiefs over Tapuwa Kapini’s Amazulu.
Rusike, who was stretchered off the pitch on the 60th minute after a suspected thigh muscle pull, dedicated the goal to his sick father.
The 22-year-old was given time off by his club to attend to his father last week and missed the game against Washington Arubi’s Pretoria University.
“He has not been well and I’m sure he smiled when I scored the goal. I will be spending Christmas with him and the rest of the family,” Rusike told the club’s official website yesterday.
He added: “It is a good feeling to finally get to score my first goal for the team. It’s good for my confidence. It feels good to give the fans something to cheer about and even more important that we won the game. I have been working very hard in the past couple of weeks and of course learning from my teammates in terms of anticipation and my (off the ball) movements. I’m grateful to the technical team for giving me an opportunity to play.”
Chiefs finished the match with 10 men after Willard Katsande received his marching orders for a second bookable offence, with four minutes remaining. Kingston Nkhata and Lloyd Zvasiya came in as second half substitutes for Chiefs while Kapini and Carrington Nyadombo played the whole match for Amazulu.
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Malajila’s star continued to shine for Maritzburg as his goal, converted from the penalty spot, helped his side to collect a point against “AmaTuks”.
The 27-year-old forward who had won the penalty, took responsibility to bury the kick past Arubi.
Meanwhile, Takesure Chinyama has recovered from an ankle injury that had put him on the sidelines for almost a month now.
