Kaizer Chiefs battled hard against a resilient Siwelele side as well as inclement weather conditions to win their Betway Premiership encounter at the Dobsonville stadium, 3-2, on Sunday.
Mfundo Vilakazi sent Amakhosi into a 1-0 halftime lead before Wandile Duba doubled the score midway through the second period. A Samukelo Xulu own goal then restored Chiefs’ two-goal cushion, which was reduced again to one when Michel N’Guessan pulled a goal back in stoppage time moments after taking the field as a substitute.
Like their last encounter against Richards Bay in Durban, it took a while for the players to attune to the difficult playing conditions, particularly the swirling wind that affected the accuracy of the passing.
Chiefs controlled the tempo from the start, pinning Siwelele inside their own half for virtually the entirety of the opening 45 minutes, although it took until the 16th minute for the first real sight of goal, a shot from Mduduzi Sabalalala that was saved after the forward was set up by good combination work down the right by Vilakazi and Dillan Solomons. Another clever Vilakazi pass behind the defence found Duba, who took the ball down with a brilliant first touch before firing narrowly wide as the ‘keeper came out to close him down.
The pressure finally told in the 30th minute when Lebhang Moboe clipped a pass into space down the right for Viakazi to sublimely chip the ball into a gaping goal from 20 yards out after Xulu charged off his line into no-man’s land, leaving his goal wide open.
Five minutes later, Duba had the ball in the net again only to be denied by an extremely marginal offside call. Shabalala almost doubled the lead with a piece of opportunism in the 41st minute, pouncing on a loose ball inside the Siwlelele box but couldn’t keep his effort on target and, two minutes before the break, Vilakazi and Solomons combined again to force a last-ditch block that prevented the marauding right back from threatening Xulu’s goal. Still, Chiefs went into the break well on top and a goal to the good.
The visitors tried to show some intent as the second half got underway but it was short-lived and Chiefs were soon back on the attack and looking for goals. Duba obliged in the 65th minute with an audacious backheel flick past Xulu from a Vilakazi cross that had the crowd off their feet in appreciation.
However, almost from the restart, Siwelele surged upfield and following a series of lateral passes across the Chiefs penalty area the ball reached Aphiwe Baliti on the left, who lashed the ball past Brandon Petersen into the roof of the net to pull the score back to 2-1.
Coach Fernando da Cruz immediately made a triple substitution, sending on Sibongiseni Mthethwa, Luke Baartman and Faiz Abrahams and it was the latter whose 76th minute curling free kick from wide left struck the far post and ricocheted into then net off Xulu to make it 3-1. It was unfortunate for Abrahams not to be credited for his piece of magic, which went down as an own goal by the goalkeeper.
