Malajila happy to break duck

Polokwane on Tuesday night.
The crucial 10 win helped Maritzburg ease their relegation worries as they moved into 10th place and also virtually ended stuttering Chiefs’ Premiership title hopes.
Malajila has found the goals hard to come with the same regularity that he used to score at Harare giants Dynamos since his move to the Super Diski.
But the former Chapungu and Highlanders hitman, who has also seen duty in Tunisia and Libya, shrugged off some pressure when latched onto a long ball from the back to fire home the goal that made all the difference and crucially help the Pietermaritzburg club ease away from the drop zone.
The goal also dented Chiefs titles hopes as the Soweto giants remained winless in the two games they have played since firing their Serbian coach Vladmir Vermezovic with Amakhosi now being rumoured to have decided to appoint Englishman and former Bafana Bafana coach Stuart Baxter as substantive mentor.
In scoring what proved to be the winner Malajila chased down a long ball that had been cleared diagonally from the back, took it on his head first then and showed great composure and strength to hold off fellow Zimbabwean international and left Zhaimu Jambo and then Dominic Isaacs before beating Chiefs’ Bafana Bafana goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune with a deft toe poke.
The classy 74th minute strike was enough to separate the two sides who, until then, had not done enough in a tense affair to show they were likely to score.
Apart from ending his goal drought in eight starts for the club, Tuesday night’s victory was also Maritzburg’s first league win away from home all season and debutant Ryan de Jongh will also long remember the night in he put in a star performance as a makeshift left back.
The Team of Choice had until Tuesday only managed seven draws and five losses from 12 matches but Malajila, speaking from his base in Pietermaritzburg said he was hopeful the upset win over Amakhosi would signal a change of fortunes for his side.
“When I arrived at the club, they had already set a target of a top eight finish but we lost a number of points along the way.
“Now this win over a big team like Chiefs has brought us three important points and if we can carry on from here we can still manage our target of a topsight finish.
“We have another big game this time at home against Mamelodi Sundowns and we hope to maintain our confidence levels.
“On a personal level it is always great to score a league goal and for me I am very relieved because this was my eighth start. I was happy with my contributions in the team’s performances where I have had a number of assists but to score is always good.
“Now that I have settled at the club and scored my first one, I hope it is the start of many goals to come,’’ Malajila said.
Earlier on in the game skipper Kurt Lentjies hit the upright with an early freekick before they felt they had a good penalty decision turned down when Felix Obada’s cross seemed to strike Tefu Mashamaite’s hand.
Chiefs’ best scoring chance of the opening half came when Abia Nale cut in from the right and unleashed a powerful leftfooted strike which Shuaib Walters pushed onto the crossbar.
After the break Chiefs came out with more purpose, but by now Maritzburg were set up really well and defended with determination and skill.
It was going to take something special to unlock their defence and Amakhosi could not come up with the goods in the final third of the field.
But in the 62nd minute Amakhosi also had a penalty decision turned down when Bernard Parker fired in a first time shot only to see the ball strike Peter Petersen on his hand.
Late in the game Dominic Isaacs’ header flew wide of the post and Khune’s freekick attempt from a very good position flew wide of goal.
Malajila was one of three Zimbabweans in action on the night with midfielder Willard Katsande and Jambo featuring for Chiefs.