Khama Billiat scored a hat-trick of goals as Kaizer Chiefs beat Zimamoto 4-0 in their Caf Confederations Cup preliminary first-leg match at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday evening.
Chiefs led 1-0 at the break after a clumsy first-half performance against the team from Zanzibar, but they turned on the charm after the break to score three more goals.
Billiat scored the first, second and fourth goals.
The Soweto giants will now go into the second leg of the tournament on Tuesday with a healthy advantage.
Amakhosi did not disappoint their fans in the Bay, who braved the cold weather to watch their team in action.
Chiefs were looking for a strong performance in an attempt to atone for their Telkom Knockout Cup 2-1 semifinal loss to archrivals Orlando Pirates at the weekend.
They needed an avalanche of goals against a largely unknown Zimamoto side to regain some confidence and momentum.
Amakhosi got off to the perfect start with Billiat opening the scoring as early as the seventh minute. It was a fine strike from a free kick which dipped over the defensive wall to find its way into the bottom left corner of the net.
Minutes later, Leonardo Castro also tried his luck at goal but his header went over the crossbar.
Chiefs would have expected to dominate from that point onwards.
But Zimamoto got numbers behind the ball and made life difficult. Chiefs engineered a few more chances but lacked the crucial finishing touches to make them count.
Billiat did have the ball in the net again just after the half-hour but the referee controversially disallowed the goal because of what he ruled to be a foul on the Tanzanian goalkeeper.
Billiat finally got his second goal on the hour after a clever layoff from Leonardo Castro.
This time Billiat found the bottom-right side of the goal.
Kabelo Mahlasela extended Chiefs’ score to 3-0 in the 68th minute after receiving a pass from Billiat which he comfortably placed inside the net.
Chiefs were given a penalty after Teenage Hadebe was fouled inside the box, which Billiat converted into a goal to complete the rout.
Meanwhile, Orlando Pirates achieved a heavenly result at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto, winning 5-1 against Light Stars of Seychelles in the start of a hellish challenge in terms of their schedule.
Bucs’s schedule from hell – playing seven matches in 25 days – got off to a great start in the Caf Champions League preliminary first-leg tie.
The visitors took a shock early lead through Mario Rova, but Micho Sredojevic’s men replied through Thabo Qalinge, Augustine Mulenga, Mpho Makola, Justin Shonga and Linda Mntambo for a comfortable home win, but it could have been more.
Sredojevic, though, would be pleased with the win considering he gave a couple of non-regulars an opportunity to start – with Qalinge and Makola, who was captain on the night, Kudakwashe Mahachi, Meshack Maphangule and Mntambo all getting a rare nod.
Pirates’ schedule was one of the talking points ahead of the clash, but this was some walk in the park and their Serbian mentor would be relieved it was not anything physical, with hopes from the Pirates camp that all players stay on their feet for the next three weeks.