Chiefs led 1-0 at halftime.

The bumpy pitch prevented the more skilful Chiefs from stamping their authority on the match, but coach Muhsin Ertugral's side did more than enough to claim the three points.

Wits worked hard for the 90 minutes but failed where it mattered most -in front of goals.

It was a happy debut for Chiefs new Mozambican striker Jossiah Macamo who latched on to Arthur Zwane's cross and netted the only goal of a hard fought game after 26 minutes.

The students received a mortal blow two minutes form the halftime whistle when referee Rodney Marhule sent off defender Tony Coyle for elbowing his former teammate Stanton Fredericks.

Wits opted to play their opening "home" match 400 kilometres from Johannesburg because their home ground at Milpark was too small to cater for the crowd-pulling Chiefs.

The soccer-starved people from Nelspruit responded by turning out in droves and a capacity 15 000 partisan crowd yelled and applauded every move that the Amakhosi made.

Despite losing, Wits general manager Derek Blanckensee said he was happy with the exercise.

"It showed that people in Nelspruit appreciate soccer and in the future we hope to bring more big matches here."

Macamo gave the Wits defence another fright in the 37th minute when his lob over debutant 'keeper Wayne Roberts was scrambled out of danger.

Wits faced an uphill task playing with 10 men for the entire second half but to their credit they fought to the bitter end.

Chiefs turned on some of their magic and Roberts, who shone on debut, pulled off a couple of good stops. The best save was against substitute Lucky Maselesele in the 81st minute.

Although Wits tried hard, their powder puff attack never troubled Chiefs goalkeeper Brian Baloyi during a busy second period where no quarter was asked nor given.