Defending as though their lives depended on it during the final 40 minutes, a 10-man Jomo Cosmos secured a valuable 1-1 Premier Soccer League draw against Kaizer Chiefs at King’s Park Rugby Stadium on Saturday night through a combination of true grit and their opponents’ agitated and aimless attempts to use their numerical advantage.
A fast-flowing, entertaining game turned on its head in the 54th minute after Cosmos’s lithe Liberian international Anthony Laffor was shown a red card for a second bookable offence with the teams level at a goal apiece.
The effect of what was one of several controversial decisions was to transform the proceedings into a frantic kick-and-rush affair in which emotions seemed to get the better of both sets of players.
While deserving bucketfuls of praise for their sheer courage, endurance and never-say-die spirit, Cosmos played into Chiefs’ hands by generally surrendering possession with wild clearances and inviting their opponents to resume an unending assault on their goal in the second half.
Chiefs, however, became increasingly ill at ease over the prospect of not securing the gifted opportunity of beating their bitter rivals, and bungled their way towards goal with little initiative or composure.
But if Cosmos emerged from the proceedings more than somewhat critical of the refereeing, the Chiefs supporters in the 20 000-strong crowd were not exactly enamoured with the performance of Charl Theron either after he awarded Jomo Sono’s team a disputed 38th-minute penalty from which the later-to-be-banished Laffor opened the score.
Amakhosi were on level terms within three minutes after Cosmos almost conceded an own goal and Shaun Bartlett pounced on the loose ball to score from close range.
But the golden opportunity of turning around last season’s nightmare with a second successive victory to the start of their Premier Soccer League campaign was squandered by Chiefs — much to the anguish of coach Muhsin Ertugal, who gave every indication that his blood pressure was about to exceed dangerously high levels as he performed a succession of frenzied antics on the bench.
A draw was probably the fairest result in a game in which Chiefs and Cosmos will undoubtedly claim ”we wuz robbed”, but with both more aptly pointing a finger at their own shortcomings rather than those of the referee.
Also, though over-zealous passions were indeed the order of the night, keeping cool were goalkeepers Avril Phali (Cosmos) and 20-year-old stand-in Itumeleng Khune (Chiefs), who both made a succession of superb saves. — Sapa