Royal AM won the Macufe Cup at Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein on Sunday after beating Kaizer Chiefs on penalties, while chairman Andile Mpisane made a late cameo.
It looked like Ruzaigh Gamildien had handed the home side the trophy after finishing a superb strike in the 88th minute when he was set up brilliantly by Mzwandile Dlamini.
However, a late stunner by Keagan Dolly saw Chiefs equalise via a brilliant free-kick. Dolly, though turned from hero to villain when he hammered his spot-kick in the penalty shootout against the cross bar.
Later Thabo Mokoena also missed, sending his penalty over the bar, meaning Royal AM ended up celebrating.
Royal AM are won this competition for the first time, after replacing Bloemfontein Celtic, who were the host of this event annually.
However, Celtic management had sold their status to AM boss Shauwn ‘MaMkhize’ at the beginning of last season.
This match allowed Samir Nurkovic to face his former club, after he was released at the end of last season, after recovering from the injury.
He looked someone who never lost the hunger to harass defenders, as he did so before he was taken off in the 71st minute.
Nurkovic was willing to take initiative to show that his former club that they made mistake to let him go at the end of last season. He did so by taking a long range shot but it flew to the stands.
He had another chance in the second half but again his shot lacked the purchase as Bruce Bvuma made a comfortable save. But the Chiefs keeper, who had replaced Brandon Petersen, was unable to save Gamildien’s opener.
With AM leading, chairman Mpisane made a late appearance off the bench, donning the No.10 shirt. However, it was Dolly who initially stole the headlines after netting the equaliser in the sixth minute of injury-time via a stunning free-kick.
Since Royal AM came to existence last season in the top flight football, they have beaten Amakhosi three times. They beat Chiefs in both league matches last season and again this term, coming in the first game of the season.
Chiefs also lost the 2019 Macufe Cup edition to Celtic and last won it in 2018.
