Green Point – Cape-born Eleazar Rodgers snatched a thrilling come-from-behind 2-1 win for Platinum Stars over the Joburg-based Kaizer Chiefs in their Absa Premiership clash at the Cape Town Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The match was the second of three “home” matches which Chiefs have opted to play in Cape Town this season.
At the end of last year, Chiefs won the first of the three Cape Town matches when they defeated Bidvest Wits 2-1 at the same venue, and for most of the way on Sunday they looked set for another win but Rodgers produced a super-sub performance with two matchwinning goals in the final four minutes of the match.
The North West-based Dikwena started off with a performance of intent and they may have taken an early sixth-minute lead. After a penetrative sortie down the left flank by Dikwena, Chiefs’ defence concede a corner which Mduduzi Nyanda reeled into the penalty area. The unmarked central defender Isaac Nhlapo, strategically positioned for the set-piece, met the ball with a strong header but the effort bounced off the crossbar, as the Chiefs defence remained rooted to the ground and failed to offer a challenge.
In the play that followed, two more scoring chances surfaced in quick succession for Stars but their striking efforts by Ndumiso Mabena and Bongi Ntuli were wayward.
Once Chiefs, the reigning league champions, had weathered Stars’ opening pressure spells, they forced four corners in the space of as many minutes, starting around the 20th minute. They failed to exploit their good fortunes mainly because they always looking to make an extra pass when a more direct approach in front of goal would have paid dividends.
Stars regained the initiative after this spate of let-offs but Chiefs held out to keep their defence intact as the halftime break loomed.
On the stroke of half-time, however, Chiefs grabbed a half chance to open the scoring in the match. Siphiwe Tshabalala reeled an innocuous-looking free kick from 35 metres out into the 6-metre area where Camaldine Abraw rose above the defence to head the ball goalwards. Mbongeni Mzimela, the Stars goalkeeper, was slow to gather and the ball bounced into the nets (1-0).
No sooner had play restarted when Mzimela was called into action in early second-half play as Chiefs threatened to increase their lead. Twice Chiefs’ George Maluleka was on target with scoring attempts but Mzimela saved well to keep Stars in the game.
Both sides were in a decidedly attacking frame of mind and this made for end-to-end action as both sets of defences were called into frequent action. Stars, however, were both more penetrative and impressive but Lady Luck deserted them in a four-minute phase of play when they struck the Chiefs posts three times, Ntuli struck the left and right uprights, with an equally sound effort by Letladi Madubanya also going fractionally wide.
Mzimela denied Chiefs’ Siphiwe Tshabalala with yet another fine save in the 84th minute as AmaKhosi threatened to go up 2-0 but a moment later a telling counter-attack by Stars instead saw them surrender their lead when Stars’ substitute Eleazar Rodgers scored with a low-diving header (1-1).
Moments later, Rodgers struck again when he steered a stray ball past keeper Reyaad Pieterse after a free kick bounced off the Chiefs’ defensive wall from a free kick in the final minute of the match.
The Chiefs pair Lorenzo Joao Gordinho (19th minute) and William Twala (82) were the game’s yellow-card offenders.
– African News Agency