Richards Bay reclaimed second place in the DStv Premiership following their 1-0 win over Swallows FC, while Kaizer Chiefs end the year on a positive note following their 2-0 victory over Golden Arrows.

Tshepo Mabua bagged his first goal of the season after slotting home a penalty kick in the 11th minute.

The win gave Bay 26 points, which was two more than SuperSport United and Kaizer Chiefs, who have both won the richest league in Africa more than once.

The win sees Richards Bay move back up to second place on the table with 26 points, two points ahead of SuperSport United and Kaizer Chiefs.

Richards Bay are now five points behind log leaders and defending champions Mamelodi Sundowns.

Bay’s owner Jomo Biyela revealed that the club’s main objective is “to stay in the Premiership for next season”.

“We have a wonderful environment. The boys train each day, then have lunch together. We do not have players who dash to the car park after practising and drive off.”

Biyela thinks that the most important thing is to keep most of the team that got them promoted and hire former AmaZulu assistant coach Vasili Manousakis to work with Pitso Dladla as a co-coach.

“Pitso is a very good young coach but we did not want to throw him into the deep end alone,” he added.

Meanwhile, Swallows are one point above the relegation zone, but they have only won three of their last 13 games. They have also had two different coaches, with German Ernst Middendorp being the most recent.

In another game in Durban, Bonfils-Caleb Bimenyimana of Burundi and Edmilson Dove of Mozambique scored goals in the first half to give Chiefs a 2-0 win over the home team Golden Arrows.

Bimenyimana has scored seven goals in the Premiership this year after moving to Chiefs from Kazakhstan club Kaisar.

Chiefs, a team from Johannesburg, have won a record 54 domestic titles, but none since 2015, when they won the league title.

Photo by Gerhard Duraan/BackpagePix