A defender South Africans affectionately call Tower helped Kaizer Chiefs rise further above Orlando Pirates on the DStv Premiership log table in Johannesburg on Saturday afternoon.
Chiefs centre-back Eric ‘Tower’ Mathoho towered above his marker to score and earn Chiefs a 2-1 over Pirates at Orlando Stadium.
The win helped Chiefs complete a double over the rivals Pirates after rising from third to second place on the log table.
Chiefs opened the scoring of the afternoon through Reeve Frosler after he fired his effort into the roof of the net in the18th minute following a cut-back.
A ball was switched from right to left then into the area where Flosler guided his effort past the palms of diving Pirates goalkeeper Siyabonga Mpontshane.
Pirates came back briefly into the game when Ghanaian striker Kwame Peprah equalized with a simple tap in the 53rd minute from what looked like an offside position in the second half.
Pirates had launched a blistering counterattack just when Chiefs pressed for more goals.
Chiefs finally restored their lead as Mathoho netted from the near-post following a wonderful Keegan Dolly’s corner-kick.
Pirates pushed for an equalizer with defender Olisa Ndah being denied what would have been an equalizer by the bar.
That proved to be the last highlight of the game as the Stuart Baxter’s men held on to their morale-boosting win.
Chiefs have 35 points from 19 games, 16 points behind leaders Mamelodi Sundowns who have played three games more.
The defeat saw Pirates slump from third to fourth place with 32 points from 22 games.
Starting line-ups:
Pirates:Mpontshane, Nyauza, Ndah, Shandu, Mako, Monare, Motshwari, Dlamini, Lorch, Hotto, Peprah
Chiefs: Petersen, Mathoho, Cardoso, Njabulo Ngcobo, Frosler, Blom, Manyama, Nange, Parker, Dolly, Billiat.