Chiefs finish in fourth position
BIDVEST Wits came to pick up the Absa Premiership trophy, but could not bag a win with it yesterday, having to settle for a 1-0 defeat to Kaizer Chiefs at FNB Stadium.
Coach Gavin Hunt’s warriors could not lift themselves to one more win in a match as flat as a pancake.
The Clever Boys lost to marksman Gustavo Paez’s 92nd-minute strike.
It was apt that the Wits fans occupied the “open” stand, where in the first half they could bask in the sunlight, as much as in the glory of their first league triumph.
It was apt that Chiefs coach Steve Komphela finished the season as he had started it, with the overrated Hendrick Ekstein starting.
And it was apt that Ekstein duly paid the coach back by missing a sitter in the first half, unable to add to his one goal this season. It was apt that Wits won the trophy. Chiefs had the fourth place left to play for, which they earned with this win and thanks to Supersport United losing 1-0 at home to Platinum Stars.
The only thing not apt was that Wits could not win. It would have reflected a continuing power shift from old to new in South African football that, should Chiefs and Orlando Pirates not take heed of, will see their lustre continue to dull.
Wits had the accolades from when they wrapped up the title with their 2-0 win against Polokwane City last week. Theirs was a victory for professionalism. No other club — not even SuperSport, who the current Wits evolved from with their poaching of coach Hunt and chief executive Jose Ferreira — can tick as many boxes from facilities to technical and management staff, and squad.
African champions and current Premier Soccer League superpower Mamelodi Sundowns might have the player might, but are nowhere near as precise off the field. That, as much as Downs’ 60 matches in 2016/17, saw Wits lift the domestic trophy.
Amakhosi had the chances in the first half, but the exciting Emmanuel Letloto missed two, and Ekstein another.
Early in the second half, Daniel Cardoso turned Katlego Pule’s cross onto his own upright. Paez stabbed home from close range in added time. —