Kaizer Chiefs players and officials were smiling again after ending a recent slump — which included elimination from the lucrative Telkom Knockout competition — with a 3-1 Premier Soccer League (PSL) win over Black Leopards at Thohoyandou Stadium on Saturday night.
It was mostly relieved happiness from the Amakhosi clan in a 6 000-strong crowd, rather than the assurance of old that greeted Chiefs victories in more domineering days.
Chiefs built a comfortable enough 2-0 lead by the interval after a two-goal scoring burst midway through the opening half produced goals from Shaun Bartlett and Patrick Moyo.
But instead of going on to complete a trademark success, Chiefs lost their impetus and rhythm in the second period and were duly unsettled when Robert Ngambi reduced the deficit in the 71st minute with an irrepressible header.
Amakhosi goalkeeper Rowen Fernandez, enjoying a golden season, made a rare blunder and raced to the edge of the penalty area in a vain bid to stymie one of Leopards’ persistent scoring sorties.
Fernandez was stranded in no-man’s-land when Ngambi’s goal brought the game alive.
Leopards had usurped the initiative and were probing for an equaliser when Chiefs staged a telling counterattack in the 88th minute and David Radebe assured victory for Amakhosi with a third goal from Kaizer Motaung Jnr’s cross.
Top former Bafana Bafana scorer Shaun Bartlett enjoyed probably his most impressive game since joining Chiefs at the start of the season but suffered a 29th-minute injury and was forced to leave the field.
Despite their second-half fade-out, the three points Chiefs mustered enabled them to vault from an undistinguished 10th position in the log to seventh place.
”I am not too perturbed about the second-half decline,” said Chiefs coach Ernst Middendorp afterwards. ”Most important was the manner in which we performed in the first half, which bodes well for our ambitions to climb up the log table now that we are out of the Telkom Knockout.”
Goals for Supersport
Supersport United ran riot against Golden Arrows on Saturday when they trounced the visitors 5-1 in a PSL match played at Super Stadium in Pretoria. Supersport were leading 3-1 at half-time.
The game was evenly balanced for the first 15 minutes and thereafter Arrows’ goal mouth came under siege when United’s strikers started penetrating their defence at will.
United striker Singayi Kaondera was first on the scoreboard in the 20th minute and then Tony Tsadedze scored his side’s second in the 35th. Katlego Mashego added his name to the list in the 37th minute to put United 3-0 ahead. Arrows responded with a Mabuthi Kanyeza goal in the 42nd minute.
In the second half, United made sure that Arrows remained at the bottom of the table when defender Ricardo Katza made it 4-1 in the 80th minute and Tsadetze scored his brace in the referee’s optional time to complete the rout. — Sapa