Chippa United (2) 2
Nga 21 Kwayiba 32
Kaizer Chiefs 0
DARKNESS has descended upon Kaizer Chiefs and the man carrying the lighter has dropped it inside the tunnel. Amakhosi, reeling from the midweek murder of their player Luke Fleurs, and having also lost 1-0 to Stellenbosch FC on Tuesday, were looking to remove the gloom out in East London.
But they arrived in the Eastern Cape city to find it dark, gloomy and wet and their hosts compounded matters for them via a 2-0 beating.
Though still in line for a top eight finish, Chiefs are set for a ninth successive season without silverware. And this loss to a Chippa side that last beat them at home back in 2019 must surely send the powers that be at Naturena into serious introspection. Stubborn to a fault, the Chiefs management have refused to dig deep into their coffers to appoint a quality coach and sign players worthy of the once famous gold and black jersey.
They are paying dearly for it.
Yesterday, they looked as though they were up for a fight – Amakhosi starting the match like an inspired lot, dominating possession and peppering the home side’s goals with attacks. Still, they did not create any good scoring chance as they were restricted to shooting from range by a Chippa side that held their shape despite the bombardment.
Edmilson Dove twice shot from outside the box without troubling DStv Premiership debutant goalkeeper Darren Johnson, while both Christian Saile and Ranga Chivaviro made poor decisions in the final third.
As Chiefs’ enthusiastic approach to the game fizzled out, the Chilli Boys took advantage – sucker-punching them with two goals against the run of play. And it could easily have been more as the Chiefs defence resembled a sieve whenever the home side attacked it.
The opening goal on 21 minutes illustrated Chiefs’ poor defensive organisation as they allowed a long throw in from the right to be flicked towards the penalty spot and two defenders failed to block Bienvenu Eva Nga from heading in past Bruce Bvuma.
It was 2-0 10 minutes later thanks to some slick interchanging of passes in front of the Chiefs box involving three players. It ended with Sinoxolo Kwayiba’s shot rattling the net to silence the majority of the 16 000 partisan crowd inside the Buffalo City Municipal Stadium.
Chippa could have scored twice prior to that but Bvuma denied Aviwe Mqokozo on 30 minutes while Nga missed a sitter 60 seconds thereafter – the Cameroonian seemingly aware he was in a rugby stadium as he sent the ball skywards for what would have been a great conversion kick in the oval ball game.
Cavin Johnson’s team looked improved after the break and their attacks looked more threatening. On 64 minutes they fashioned a good move on the left flank that ended with Saile’s left footed shot forcing Johnson to make an impressive block.
The Chippa number one pulled off yet another save to deny Siyethemba Sithebe – the substitute smashing a half volley through a cluster of players following a corner kick and Johnson incredibly diving to his left and parrying the ball away even though he seemed unsighted.
It marked the end of a week everyone associated with Amakhosi would rather forget quickly.