Serbian Samir Nurkovic scored a spectacular goal as Kaizer Chiefs finally got the better of arch rivals Orlando Pirates this season by winning 1-0 Sunday in the South African Premiership. Pirates had won the three previous league and cup matches between the great rivals and started the fourth meeting seven places higher in the championship standings. When the final whistle blew at Soccer City stadium in Soweto, empty because of the coronavirus pandemic, Pirates remained fourth while Chiefs climbed two places to ninth. Goals are often scarce in Soweto derbies and it took a moment of magic by Nurkovic to break the deadlock on 54 minutes. When Pirates failed to clear a free-kick, Nurkovic sent a bicycle kick looping over goalkeeper Siyabonga Mpontshane and into the net for a worthy match-winner. A consistent scorer last season, Nurkovic has been disappointing during this campaign with the goal against Pirates only his second. But for success-starved Chiefs supporters the 28-year-old will be a hero for a couple of weeks at least as club football temporarily ceases to permit two rounds of Africa Cup of Nations qualifying. Chiefs are a club synonymous with silverware, winning 53 domestic competitions and the 2001 African Cup Winners Cup since being formed in 1970. But they last held a trophy aloft in 2015 and are set to go six seasons without one unless they show a remarkable improvement in the Premiership or the CAF Champions League. The Amakhosi (Chiefs) are 17 points behind Premiership leaders Mamelodi Sundowns, who have a game in hand, entering the final third of a 30-round season. Chiefs will most likely have to beat Horoya in Guinea on April 10 to reach the Champions League quarter-finals -- a challenge that proved beyond them last month when the clubs drew 0-0 in Soweto. A last-eight place would appear to the best Chiefs can hope for as they were brutally exposed defensively by Morocco's Wydad Casablanca recently. Elsewhere, Zambian Rodrick Kabwe netted with a backheel on 80 minutes to earn Black Leopards a shock 1-1 draw away to Sundowns in a top-versus-bottom clash in Pretoria. Nigerian Stanley Dimgba scored his sixth Premiership goal this season for Stellenbosch and Zimbabwean Kudakwashe Mahachi his first for SuperSport United in a 1-1 draw near Cape Town. A week after helping lowly Chippa United reach the FA Cup semi-finals, 36-year-old Liberian Anthony Laffor converted a penalty to trigger a comeback 2-2 draw against Swallows in Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth). dl/td