Chippa’s Malesela sees the positive side of home draw

Chippa United coach Dan Malesela is pleased with the style of football displayed in the 1-1 DStv Premiership draw between his side and TS Galaxy at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.

“It was a very tight match,” Malesela said.

“They are a quality side as well.

“It was very exciting, very entertaining and very attacking.

“This is what you need for football.

“In situations like these, when games are good and the players are giving their all, everybody who is involved in the match must put in their shift as well.

“We need to work hard to make this game look good for everybody.

“It’s for the marketing of SA football and for the PSL.

“So everybody must make an effort to see that the game is run properly and it is played to the satisfaction of everybody involved,” Malesela said.

Saturday’s draw means the Port Elizabeth side have gone three matches without a win and the point has seen Chippa move up to 15 points.

Meanwhile, Galaxy coach Owen Da Gama wanted to see more goals scored by his camp. He rued the number of scoring opportunities they missed.

“The layoff of the weekend broke a little bit of the momentum but I thought the boys played very well.

“We created some chances to score and if you don’t take those chances it just gets written off.

“Football is about putting the ball in the back of the net.

“We struggled with that today but I was happy with the fighting spirit.

“I was happy that after the penalty the boys came back very strongly.

“We started taking control of the game, especially from the final third, and I think that was pleasing.

“However, it was a good game for both teams. But if you want to win games you have to score goals.”

Da Gama believes his players will get the hang of things and score those muchneeded goals as long as the team identifies what their problem is and what needs to be rectified.

Meanwhile, Orlando Pirates progressed to the CAF Confederation Cup group stages after defeating Jwaneng Galaxy 4-0 on aggregate yesterday.

Galaxy had appeared to hold their own during a largely open first half and even managed to threaten on occasion as they bravely sought an unlikely haul of goals that would have brought them back into this match.

And perhaps motivated by Pirates coach Josef Zinnbauer's decision to stick to his guns and continue to rotate his squad, Galaxy often stood their ground as the home side searched for an effective route to Morake's goal area.

Only Mntambo and Thulani Hlatshwayo returned from the first leg and Pirates' Southern African neighbours visibly grew in confidence as the match progressed, and even managed to give Bucs keeper Siyabonga Mpontshane a fright when a free kick rattled the woodwork in the 30th minute.

That chance spurred Pirates into action and they should have made better use of the gilt-edged chances they subsequently created, most notably from Jean-Marc Makusu Mundele, who could not find a way past Morake after linking up very well with Austin Muwowo.

After going into the halftime break still goalless, Pirates finally sprung into life and that man Mntambo delivered when it mattered.

The goals avalanche that many predicted never came at Orlando Stadium and Pirates will need to deliver the killer blow at home when they are confronted by more dangerous sides in the group stages.

Pirates’ goals in the first game were scored by Thulani Hlatshwayo, Mntambo and Mundele. DStv Premiership games results:

CT City 1 v Swallows 1; TTM 1 v Stellenbosch 0