Marked for Kermit Furman
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Dec 2026
8 matches without a win for Black Aces
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Black Aces are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Nobody could get near Dean Zungu
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Percy Dolly in a row with a teammate
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.
Match26 Dec 2026
0‑2 to Maritzburg United, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Itumeleng Phiri, and the manager let it.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Shots: 8, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Marked 5.58, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
A mark of 5.64 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“Nobody outside is coming to save us.” It was short, it was not comfortable, and by all accounts the Black Aces squad were quieter afterwards than they had been all season.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Dec 2026
The wait goes on for Black Aces
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Market21 Dec 2026
Kermit 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 ratings21 Dec 2026
Nobody could get near Dean Zungu
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Dec 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Keagan Mkhize, and the manager let it.
Match19 Dec 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. University of Pretoria came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market23 Nov 2026
Kermit 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Percy Dolly 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 ratings23 Nov 2026
Dean Zungu runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 18, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Davis Morwaswi commits to Black Aces for another 4 years.
Squad23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Gift Jali
“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
Upbeat
Squad2 Nov 2026
There were 6 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Nobody wants to play Black Aces right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 24 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Itumeleng Phiri 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Bongani Hlatshwayo. 1‑0 against Platinum Stars, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.44, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 18, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Black Aces have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Oct 2026
Kermit 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 ratings5 Oct 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 25 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Percy Dolly in a row with a teammate
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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match3 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Dean Zungu’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Black Aces.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 8.79 — 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 8.49 — 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 2026
Kermit 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for Black Aces
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Black Aces are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Dean Zungu runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Itumeleng Phiri 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 18 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Marked 7.61 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Black Aces had the best player on the pitch.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The captaincy has been taken off Itumeleng Manyama. Black Aces will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
Match5 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. University of Pretoria will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
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.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Dean Zungu runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Percy Dolly and Black Aces agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Percy Dolly 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.
Match8 Aug 2026
Bidvest Wits made Black Aces work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.