Rockets ignite as Puso Dithejane hat-trick sinks Chippa United in East London

Amidst all their transfer challenges, TS Galaxy bounced back in fine style at the expense of Chippa United, kickstarting their 2025/26 Betway Premiership season with a 4-1 win away at the Buffalo City Municipal Stadium in East London in Tuesday after three consecutive losses.

Galaxy turned on the style with a victory over the Chilli Boys, who now face an uphill battle to relaunch their campaign as they remain winless after three matches.

Head coach Adnan Beganovic has had limited options, with the club still sorting out off-field issues that have prevented them from registering new players with their Fifa ban.

Heading into the clash on Tuesday, Galaxy desperately needed a win, although it was difficult to see where it would come from.

Chippa, too, have faced their own turbulence, with new coach Sinethemba Badela lasting only two matches at the helm — recording one draw and one loss — before being replaced by assistant coach Musa Nyatama for that clash.

It looked like another long night for the Rockets when they fell behind early, as Khaya Mfecane opened the scoring for Chippa in the fifth minute. But from then on, it became the Puso Dithejane show, as the former Kaizer Chiefs graduate struck a stunning hat-trick to inspire the Mbombela-based side to a crushing win that may have plunged Chippa into deeper trouble.

Beganovic expressed his relief at finally kickstarting their season and said that, despite the poor results, his team had always shown promise.

“It’s not only this game, since the start of the season including our encounter against Sekhukhune United in the MTN8, we played very well,” Beganovic said after the match.

“We analysed and checked the chances we managed to create in all the games, it was painful to lose.

“We need to stay calm and prepare like we have been when we have lost, we can’t lose our head after this game, we want to keep our structure and our philosophy, and we want to play exactly like this not only against Chippa. Our game plan and philosophy is clear.”

The Bosnian mentor was also delighted with Dithejane’s performance, singling him out for praise while also applauding the collective effort of his squad.

Galaxy, still operating with a reduced bench of just five substitutes due to their ongoing transfer restrictions, will next face Siwelele FC when league football returns and Beganovic urged his side to remain humble.

“He scored three beautiful goals,” Beganovic said of Dithejane.

“We are happy because we need wingers who can score goals, and we work a lot with our wingers on finishing. In our last game he had two good opportunities to score but he missed.

“We have supported him, we believe in him and today he gave us three good goals. Today there was a player that scored three goals but I also want to give my entire team the attention after taking three points.

“We do not have time to celebrate, we need to switch on and think about the next game against Siwelele, but we need to analyse and we will start preparations for that game. 

“It’s beautiful when you collect three points, but we want to put everything we can and play like we did tonight in this match.”