Opta Jabu 13 March Newsletter: Derby Day Stats and more.

The Soweto derby and Tshwane derby were played in the last few days. Our first newsletter brings you some memorable stats!!

Jose Riveiro’s 50-game milestone

50 - The recent Soweto Derby was Jose Riveiro's 50th league game in charge of Orlando Pirates, with the Spaniard winning exactly 50% of games in that time (P50 W25 D12 L13).

The Spaniard is the 6th coach to oversee 50 games for Pirates in the PSL era. Of all that have done this before him, only Kostadin Papic (54%) had a higher win rate in their first 50 games.

• Papic 54%

• Palacios 50%

• Riveiro 50%

• Krol 46%

• Micho 44%

• Tinkler 40%

Micho’s record is lowered by his first spell at the club, where he oversaw 12 games in 2006/7 and won just three. Counting 50 games in his second spell alone (2017/18 onwards), he managed a 46% win rate.

Gavin Hunt’s 50-game milestone

While Riveiro was celebrating his 50-game milestone at Orlando Pirates, Gavin Hunt also reached a different kind of 50-game milestone. Tuesday’s Tshwane derby was the 50th time a side coached by Gavin Hunt faced Sundowns in the league, making him the 1st coach in PSL history to manage 50 games against a single opponent in the competition (P50 W14 D13 L23).

Most of those games have come while he is at SuperSport

Gavin Hunt overall W-D-L record v Sundowns

• At Supersport Utd: P16 W6 D4 L6

• At Bidvest Wits: P14 W3 D5 L6

• At Moroka Swallows: P10 W3 D3 L4

• At Hellenic: P5 W1 D0 L4

• At Black Leopards: P2 W0 D1 L1

• At Kaizer Chiefs: P2 W1 D0 L1

• At Chippa Utd: P1 W0 D1 L0

Sundowns 1600 point milestone

The Brazilians extended their unbeaten record to 41 games in the league, at least 10 more than the previous record (31 set by Chiefs). There is a long way to go until they reach 50 games unbeaten, but the point earned in the derby brought them a noteworthy milestone of their own.

1,600 - The Tshwane Derby draw earned Sundowns their 1,600th point in the PSL (852 games), making them the first side to reach that total in the competition.

• Sundowns: P852 Pts1600

• Chiefs: P854 Pts1477

• Pirates: P854 Pts1462

• SuperSport: P854 Pts1296

• Wits: P714 Pts1039

Goals galore - teams.

While the Soweto derby had more goals (5) compared to the Tshwane derby (2), the Tshwane derby remains the highest-scoring fixture in PSL history. Unsurprisingly, the top five scoring fixtures feature the four everpresent sides, but it is interesting to see SuperSport in four of the five highest scoring ties.

135 - Sundowns v SuperSport is the highest-scoring fixture in the history of the PSL, with 135 goals in the 56 top-flight meetings between the sides.

• SuperSport v Sundowns: 135

• SuperSport v Pirates: 131

• SuperSport v Chiefs: 124

• SuperSport v Golden Arrows: 124

• Orlando Pirates v Sundowns: 120

Goals galore - players.

Ironically, two players from the latter derby are in line to dethrone Siya Nomvete as the leading PSL scorer of all time.

110 -Bradley Grobler’s equaliser in the derby was his 110th goal for a top-flight club (all comps). He is now joint-third with Daniel Mudau & Mabhuti Khanyeza for goals in the PSL era, behind only Siya Nomvethe (123) & Peter Shalulile (112)

• Nomvete 123

• Shalulile 112

• Grobler 110

• Mudau 110 (PSL era only)

• Khenyeza 110