Betway Premiership | 13 September 2026
Milford FC produced the statement result of their young top-flight life on Sunday, brushing aside a ten-man Richards Bay 5-1 at the Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium to climb into fifth place in the 2026/27 Betway Premiership. Siphosethu Ndlabi opened from the penalty spot on 28 minutes, Mvelo Zikakayo helped himself to a first-half-and-second-half brace, and late goals from substitutes Phakamani Jwara and Jabulile Gxakoshe turned a comfortable afternoon into a rout. The game turned on a first-half red card for Richards Bay’s Lindokuhle Zikhali, and Milford did exactly what a side chasing a reputation should do — they punished it without mercy.
The turning point
For 24 minutes this was a contest. Then Zikhali hauled down Ndlabi inside the box, the referee pointed to the spot and showed red, and the complexion of the match changed in a single decision. Ndlabi dusted himself off to convert the penalty on 28 minutes, and from that moment Milford had both the lead and the extra man. Playing against ten is an invitation that sides new to this level do not always accept; Milford accepted it with both hands.
Zikakayo takes over
The afternoon belonged to Mvelo Zikakayo. He doubled the lead right on the stroke of half-time, timing his run to perfection to make it 2-0 at the break, then returned after the interval to complete his brace on 54 minutes and effectively end the contest at 3-0. It was the kind of ruthless, front-foot finishing that promoted sides are told they lack when they step up — and Zikakayo spent ninety minutes arguing the opposite. Richards Bay briefly found a reply through Mehluleli Ndelu on 77 minutes, but by then the result was long settled.
Strength in depth
What will please the Milford bench most is where the last two goals came from. Jwara and Gxakoshe both struck off the bench in the closing minutes, Jwara on 84 and Gxakoshe deep into stoppage time, to stretch the margin to five. A newly promoted squad living on its first eleven is a fragile thing; one that can send on reserves and keep scoring is something else entirely. Five different scorers across the afternoon speaks to a group that shares the load rather than leaning on a single star.
Final word
Fifth place in mid-September is a position, not a destiny, and Milford will know better than anyone that one five-goal Sunday does not make a season. But survival campaigns are built on afternoons exactly like this one — take your chances, make the extra man count, and bank the points that opponents around you drop. For a club still introducing itself to the Betway Premiership, a 5-1 win on the road is the clearest possible way to say they belong.
