Khanyisa Mayo marked his debut in Gold & Black with a sherply taken 39th minute goal before Sirino had his penalty saved by Washington Arubi on the stroke of half-time at FNB Stadium.
Mayo scored on debut for Kaizer Chiefs, becoming the second debutant to score for Chiefs this season, along with Flavio Da Silva.
Mayo and his father Patrick have both now scored for the Club. Mayo senior’s first league goal for Chiefs was Amakhosi’s opening goal in a 4-0 away win over Zulu Royals on 17 December 2003.
Amakhosi played draw in another Betway Premiership battle, where they faced Marumo Gallants on Wednesday, 24 September 2025.
Gallants substitute, Jaisen Clifford equalised with 15 minutes remaining to earn a share of the spoils for the visitors.
Gaston Sirino’s first-half penalty miss proved costly as Gallants came from a goal down to salvage a 1-1 draw against Chiefs in their Heritage Day Betway Premiership clash.
Looking to establish their home advantage immediately, Amakhosi dominated the early moments of the match and had the Gallants defence scampering to keep them from scoring within the opening five minutes.
However, the visitors were the first to threaten in the 14thminute when Daniel Msendami latched onto a long ball out of defence that evaded the Chiefs back line and forced a fine reflex parry from Brandon Petersen to keep his goal intact. Amakhosi responded barely a minute later with Reeve Frosler setting up Siphesihle Ndlovu for a shot from the edge of the box that Washington Arubi managed to save low to his left.
On 35 minutes, Mayo nodded the ball into the path of Paseka Mako, whose shot was saved by Arubi.
The Gallants goalkeeper wasn’t so fortunate four minutes later though, as Zitha Kwinika played the ball into the box for Ashley Du Preez to touch it first-time into the path of Mayo who, showing a natural striker’s instinct, reacted quicker than his marker to jab Chiefs into the lead on his first appearance for the Club.
Chiefs has recently suffered two defeats against Kabuscorp SCP in the CAF Confederation Cup and Sekhukhune United.
After travelling to Angola, Chiefs returned home on Sunday to prepare for another battle – expected to take place where they faced their first defeat of the season.
Chiefs will still fancy their chances of going through to the next round of the 2025/26 CAF Confederation Cup despite going down 1-0 to Kabuscorp SCP, in the first-leg of their preliminary round tie at Estadio 11 de Novembro in Luanda on Saturday.
“Glody Lilepo was stretchered off after a reckless tackle in the penalty area, while Zitha Kwinika required a head wrap due to excessive bleeding incurred from an elbow to the face by Jorge, which earned the Kubascorp player a red card.
“With five matches scheduled over 14 days, there will be little time for rest and recovery for the Glamour Boys who still have four matches to play before the next FIFA break,” said the club in a statement.
The club supporters have already complained about the recent results – a victory in Wednesday’s league clash against Gallants could served as a major morale booster for Amakhosi ahead of Saturday’s second leg of the Confederation Cup.
On the log, Chiefs are in third place, with 14 points from seven matches, and Bahlabane Ba Ntwa are in tenth position, on 10 points, after eight outings in the league.
The Chiefs players and technical staff will now turn their attention to Saturday’s crucial CAF Confederation Cup preliminary round second-leg against Kabuscorp SCP at FNB stadium.
