A well-taken penalty by defender Phil Evans in the 47th minute was all coach Pitso Mosimane, and United, needed to lift the cup of the second edition of the SAA Supa 8.

Chiefs were frustrated from the first whistle as SuperSport resorted to defence and counter-attacks which resulted in nothing.

Chiefs entertain

Dribbling wizards Thabo Mooki and Emmanuel Ngobese put on a show as early as the second minute of the game for their thousands of fans but were unable to break through the solid defence of United captain Ricardo Katza and Siboniso Gaxa.

Chiefs had more possesion and better chances to score as their goalkeeper Rowen Fernandez was hardly tested where as his opposite, Wendell Robinson, almost gifted the 2003/04 league champions a goal.

Robinson misjudged a long ball played into his goal area and as the ball bounced over his head John 'Shoes' Moshoeu looked certain to score but the veteran could not slot the ball into an empty net.

Mbesuma threat

Amakhosi star-striker Collins Mbesuma was closely watched by a seemingly very nervous Siboniso Gaxa who gifted the Zambian international a passage to goal in the 28th minute.

Gaxa completely mistimed a clearance and Mbesuma rushed onto the goal and placed his shot just past Robinson, but the striker was agonisingly surprised when the ball bounced off the upright back to him.

His second tame shot at goal went in the side net.

United did not threaten the Chiefs goal at all during the first half and their only contribution in the first stanza was a few fouls on their opponents.

The tough-tackling Peter Khoabane earlier recieved a caution from referee Jerome Damon for a tackle from behind on Thabo Mooki.

The teams went into the break tied at 0-0.

Zwane penalty

An Arthur '10111' Zwane handball gave Matsatsantsa the oppurtunity to go ahead in the match, and to eventually win it.

Evans calmly slotted the ball past Fernandez who went the wrong way.

Zwane's infringement was reminiscent of his 'save' against Santos in the Coca-Cola Cup last season which Chiefs won 1-0.

Waiting game

Mosimanes charges were prepared to sit back for the rest of the game and frustrated the Amakhosi who sent in wave upon wave of attack.

Zwane played with an urgency to make up for his mistake and provided numerous crosses from the right for his team.

In the 61st minute Zwane sent in a dangerous cross but Robinson was alert to the danger and got a hand to the ball as three Amakhosi players attacked his goal.

Robinson saves

The former Moroka Swallows keeper was determined to make up for his first half errors and kept his team in the lead with spectacular saves.

In the 63rd minute Mbesuma was picked out by Zwane who delivered a pin-point cross to the striker whose close-range effort was foiled by none other than Robinson.

Chiefs pressure

Moshoeu and Mbesuma were joined by defenders Cyril Nzama and Patrick Mabedi in attack but the United defence stood strong and endured the pressure.

Patrick Mayo came on for Zwane, and with time running out coach Ted Dumitru sent on Kabamba Musasa too. Despite having three strikers it was not the Phefeni glamour boys day.

The four minutes of extra time must have felt like 40 minutes to the United bench who exploded when referee Damon blew the final whistle.

Mosimane admitted that his team did not play attractive football but the former Jomo Cosmos star came to win.

His preparation even included t-shirts with the branding 2004 SAA Supa 8 champions printed on it.

Mosimane has definitely taken the 'defend and conquer' rule, employed so successfully by Greece who won the Euro 2004 and made it his own, together with his first cup for the Pretoria team.