A Mandla Masango header gave Kaizer Chiefs a 1-0 victory against Mpumalanga Black Aces this weekend and a 15-point South African Premiership lead going into the mid-season break.

Masango struck on the hour at Soccer City stadium in Soweto with a glancing header into the corner of the net off a cross from Zimbabwean Kingston Nkhatha.

Based in north-eastern city Nelspruit, Aces came closest to scoring midway through the opening half when Zimbabwean Tendai Ndoro hit the post with a shot and had a header cleared off the goal-line.

It was Chiefs’ third victory over Aces since the season kicked off last August following a 2-1 away league win and a 4-0 home triumph in a cup competition.

“We expected a tough time from Aces and that is what transpired,” said England-born Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter.

“Our performance was mixed — good at times and sloppy at others,” added the 61-year-old former Finland manager who steered Chiefs to the title two seasons ago.

Success over Aces, coupled with a 2-1 midweek home win against Free State Stars via Nkhatha and Siyabonga Nkosi goals, lifted Chiefs to 46 points from 18 matches in the 30-round championship.

A run of 14 victories and four draws has given the Soweto club a huge advantage over defending champions Mamelodi Sundowns and Wits University, who share second place with 31 points each.

Expensively-assembled Pretoria outfit Sundowns never reached top gear as they battled to a 2-1 home victory over injury-weakened Ajax Cape Town.

Teko Modise created Sundowns’ first goal on 25 minutes with a perfectly flighted free-kick that Dutch centre-back and captain Alje Schut nodded past Finnish goalkeeper Anssi Jaakkola.

And diminutive midfielder Modise grabbed the match-winner six minutes from time, heading in from close range after Jaakkola failed to cut off a cross.

Liberia captain Anthony Laffor, two-goal star of Sundowns’ 2-1 midweek win at Maritzburg United, was stretchered off midway through the first half against Ajax with suspected concussion.

Sundowns are unbeaten in 13 league games, but two early-season losses plus seven draws leaves them with a mammoth task to overtake Chiefs.

Unfashionable Johannesburg side Wits were held 0-0 at Pretoria University in a drab draw with the 30-degree celsius (86 fahrenheit) heat militating against exciting football.

At the other end of the table, AmaZulu are eight points adrift with recently appointed ex-Pretoria University coach Steve Barker battling to turn the tide.

After winning his first match, against his old club, Barker has watched the Durban side draw twice and lose twice, with a 2-1 home defeat to fellow strugglers Moroka Swallows particularly disappointing.

The Premiership season resumes on February 10 — two days after the Africa Cup of Nations final in Equatorial Guinea.