Amakhosi fail to narrow gap
With Sundowns only drawing, Chiefs had their chance
Kaizer Chiefs (0) 0 Bloemfontein Celtic (0) 0
● If anyone needed anything to underline why Kaizer Chiefs could be incapable of fulfilling their ambition to win the Absa Premiership this season they need to look no further than the poor display they dished up at the FNB Stadium last night.
Earlier in the day log leaders Mamelodi Sundowns had presented Chiefs with a golden chance to close the gap between them to three points but Amakhosi failed to beat a Bloemfontein Celtic team that didn't deserve to go home with a point.
Chiefs had all the chances to win this match but failed to take them in both halves.
Defender Daniel Cardoso came close to winning the match for Chiefs but saw his header hit the crossbar 16 minutes from time — the best, clearest chance of a dull match.
Deon Hotto should have also wrapped things up for Celtic when he was allowed space to go one on one with Itumeleng Khune in the second half but his shot was easily blocked by the Chiefs keeper.
Chiefs’ draw last night was their 11th in 22 matches and had they converted half of those draws into wins they would have been way ahead of Sundowns by now.
Chiefs’ Colombian striker Leonardo Castro was the busiest player last night, buzzing without real penetration in front of Celtic’s defence. Most of Castro’s shots on goal went wide or just over the bar of Patrick Tignyemb’s goal.
With Celtic packing their defence with five men when their opponents had possession, Chiefs just couldn't find ways to create the openings and their top striker Ryan Moon was starved of service.
Perhaps playing this game with half his mind on Saturday’s Soweto Derby, Komphela made four changes to the team that beat Cape Town City 1-0 last weekend.
Willard Katsande was allowed to attend his mother's funeral in Zimbabwe, and Wiseman Meyiwa retained his position and played alongside George Maluleka.
As playmaker, Komphela preferred to start with Pule Ekstein in place of Siphelele Ntshangase, and Siyabonga Ngezana took Teenage Hadebe’s slot in defence.
With this draw Amakhosi extended their unbeaten run to nine matches but this would have sounded sweeter had they won ahead of their tough encounter with Pirates.
The draw did take Amakhosi to second place with 35 points from 22 matches. They are still five points behind log leaders Sundowns, who drew 1-1 with SuperSport earlier yesterday.
With this draw Celtic extended their winless run to six games. Phunya Sele Sele’s last win was in their first match this year when they beat Golden Arrows 2-1 in Free State.