Eight league games without a win. A new coach since September. A cup exit at Loftus on Tuesday. If any club in the country needed a Friday night to go its way, it was Marumo Gallants, and in Rustenburg it finally did.
The Marumo Gallants Siwelele result was 3-2 to the home side at Royal Bafokeng Stadium. Samkele Sihlali scored twice and Ndabayithethwa Ndlondlo once, the PSL’s full-time report confirms. It is Gallants’ first Betway Premiership win of the season, at the ninth attempt, and their first league win since March, according to the league. It also lifts them off the bottom of the table, for now.
| At a glance | |
|---|---|
| Result | Marumo Gallants 3-2 Siwelele FC |
| Half-time | 2-1 |
| Gallants scorers | Samkele Sihlali 7′, 49′; Ndabayithethwa Ndlondlo 32′ |
| Siwelele scorers | Raymond Makhuvele 26′; Vincent Pule 55′ |
| Venue | Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg, Friday 30 October 2026, 19:30 SAST |
| Man of the Match | Samkele Sihlali (PSL) |
How the Marumo Gallants Siwelele result unfolded
Seven minutes in, Sihlali rose highest to head in from close range, as SoccerMag described it. It was his first goal since he joined from Sekhukhune United on a free transfer, the PSL noted.
Siwelele were level after 26 minutes, when the debutant Raymond Makhuvele powered a header past Kagiso Mlambo. Gallants answered before the break. Moremi set up Ndlondlo for his first goal of the campaign, and the home side went in 2-1 up.
Four minutes after the restart it was 3-1, Sihlali finishing again for his second of the night.
Then came the nerves. Vincent Pule, on as a half-time substitute, scored from a free-kick on 55 minutes, his second goal of the campaign. Siwelele had 35 minutes to find an equaliser. Godfrey Mosoetsa, whom the club named caretaker coach in September, sent on the former Orlando Pirates striker Zakhele Lepasa in the 84th minute to chase it, the PSL reported. It never came.
Why three points mean so much in Rustenburg
Before Friday, Gallants had two draws and six defeats from eight league games and had scored six goals, the PSL’s results show. On Friday they scored three, a third of their league total for the season in one night.
It is also the first league win since the club replaced Phuti Mohafe with a new head coach in September. It came three days after a 1-0 defeat to Mamelodi Sundowns, our report from Loftus explains, a result that put them out of the knockout cup.
The log tells the rest. Gallants have 5 points from nine games and sit 15th. Richards Bay are bottom on 3 points with a game in hand, and they play Kruger United in Mbombela on Saturday night, so a Richards Bay win would send Gallants back to 16th. Siwelele stay 14th on 6 points, one ahead of Gallants, the PSL log shows.
There is history in this fixture too. Last season it was a Bloemfontein derby: the PSL called the two clubs Bloemfontein rivals when Siwelele won 1-0 at the Dr Petrus Molemela Stadium in September 2025. Gallants now play their home games in Rustenburg.
For Siwelele, the night ended a three-match unbeaten run, by the PSL’s count. They had beaten Polokwane City 1-0 in the league, as The Final Whistle recorded, and again on penalties in the cup, as our last 16 recap tells it. Mosoetsa, a former reserve-team coach, has insisted the whole technical team deserves the credit for that upturn, SuperSport reported this week.
Our view: three points do not fix a season. But a side that had found the net six times in eight league games scored three in one night, days after a cup defeat that could have flattened them. Siwelele will feel they gave away too much too early. Gallants will simply feel lighter.
What comes next for both clubs
Siwelele’s next assignment is a big one: Kaizer Chiefs in the knockout cup quarter-finals, drawn on Wednesday night, as our Durban City v Stellenbosch report records. The tie is set for the weekend of 7 and 8 November, iDiski Times reported, with the PSL still to confirm the details.
Gallants wait longer. Their trip to Golden Arrows next week shows as postponed on the PSL’s fixture list, and their next league date is 29 November, the league says.
The rest of the weekend, from the Soweto Derby to Sundowns against Durban City back at Royal Bafokeng on Saturday night, is in our weekend fixture guide.
Neither coach’s post-match comments had been published by the time this report was filed.
Nine games in, Gallants finally have a win to build on.