Chippa win – but crowd big letdown
Game in East London fails to attract fans
CHIPPA United opened their Mdantsane venture with a win as they beat Highlands Park by 2-0 at the Sisa Dukashe Stadium at the weekend. But it was the poor crowd attendance that stole the show, with the venue far from the expected full house.
Some have attributed the disappointing attendance to ticket prices that were going at a minimum of R60 instead of the R40 as is often the case.
But Chippa boss Siviwe Mpengesi and Buffalo City mayor Xola Pakati disagree.
According to Pakati, because it is the festive season people have got a lot of things to attend to and therefore could not make it to the game.
Mpengesi concurred, saying it was only the first match in South Africa’s second biggest township and therefore too early to judge.
He expected a full house at the next match at the venue against Mamelodi Sundowns on Valentine’s Day next year.
Pakati believes the crowd of fewer than 4 000 was a good one but admitted it could have been bigger.
“We have successfully hosted this event and we are happy with the spin-offs because this was the best way to close 2016,” the mayor said.
“We could have done better than this, but there are many other things that take place in the township that people are preoccupied with.”
Mpengesi weighed in: “I’m pleased with the crowd understanding this time of the year but, of course, we will have to improve our marketing going into the future.
“This was a first of many matches to come here and Highlands Park are a small team.”
“I am pleased the result went our way because this now means Buffalo City is a lucky charm as we have never lost a league game when playing here.”
Chilli Boys coach Dan Malesela was particularly pleased with his charges for keeping a clean sheet, something they had not done since October 25 when they played to a goalless draw against Bloemfontein Celtic in Port Elizabeth.
“We put ourselves under pressure not to concede any more goals so I am hoping this is the beginning of good things defensively,” Malesela said.
“It was our home game anyway and we appreciate the three points because the difference between us and the team at the bottom of the standings was two points and therefore we could not go out there for draws.” Malesela is hoping for another three points in the last match of the year away against Ajax Cape Town this weekend.
“Life is getting difficult for us every day because we are now sitting with quite a number of injuries, particularly at the back and if we cannot find a miracle in the next few days we might find ourselves in a testing situation but I think we will overcome.”
Highlands coach Gordon Igesund said his side had deserved to get something out of the game and could have won had they minimised on unfortunate mistakes.
Lerato Manzini and Katlego Mashego found the back of the net for the hosts.