Marked for Teboho Khune
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match9 Sep 2026
The cup run ends for Black Aces
4‑7 against Kaizer Chiefs, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The match ball belongs to Teboho Khune, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
4-7, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Ramahlwe Tau, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.94
A mark of 7.94 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A chastening introduction for Percy Vilakazi — 5.73
It is a hard way to meet a crowd. Marked 5.73 on the day he was handed the shirt, and the important thing now is what the next one looks like.
Match9 Sep 2026
Teboho Khune among the goals in a wild afternoon
11 goals in one match, Teboho Khune on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Black Aces and Kaizer Chiefs.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Teboho Khune was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.36. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Black Aces training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thulani Mahlangu is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Whether it was the goalkeeper or the ten in front of him is the argument that will fill every conversation in town this week. 2 saves does not settle it either way.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.05 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Sep 2026
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market7 Sep 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Black Aces, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match5 Sep 2026
Black Aces are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Bradley Erasmus was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match5 Sep 2026
A 3‑2 win over University of Pretoria, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Marked 8.81 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match5 Sep 2026
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. University of Pretoria tried to reorganise, Black Aces did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match29 Aug 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 8‑3 against Polokwane City, and it could have been more.
Squad31 Aug 2026
4 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad31 Aug 2026
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Siyabonga Manyama, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.32
A mark of 8.32 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market31 Aug 2026
Erick Furman hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Black Aces can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad31 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Black Aces this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match29 Aug 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 11 goals between Black Aces and Polokwane City, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match15 Aug 2026
Black Aces throw away a 3-goal lead
3 in front and in complete control, and it finished with SuperSport United the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Black Aces will enjoy reviewing.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A brace, and Ramahlwe Tau takes the afternoon — 8.49
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ramahlwe Tau provided it, and the 8.49 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A brace, and Thulani Mahlangu takes the afternoon — 8.43
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Thulani Mahlangu provided it, and the 8.43 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Both jobs done by Teboho Khune — 6.79
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 18 actions, 6.79, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Market17 Aug 2026
Gift Williams has left for Gornik Leczna in a $1.3M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Thulani Mahlangu was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Ramahlwe Tau has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Sifiso Mphela
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad10 Aug 2026
The match ball belongs to Sifiso Mphela, whose 5 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Match8 Aug 2026
At 5 goals adrift this was a formality, and the formality lasted right up until it did not. Black Aces found something the first half had given no notice of, and Bidvest Wits could not hold what they had.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market10 Aug 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Black Aces, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match8 Aug 2026
A 7‑6 win over Bidvest Wits, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Thulani Mahlangu and Black Aces agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A goal and an assist for Teboho Khune — 7.90
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.90 beside his name.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Sifiso Mphela was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Sifiso Mphela at his very best
Marked 9.79. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Black Aces.