Amakhosi draw closer to the Top 8
AmaZulu (1) 1 Letsoalo 39 Kaizer Chiefs (1) 1 Du Preez 2
AMAZULU and Kaizer Chiefs could not be separated as they drew at the Moses Mabhida Stadium yesterday.
The two teams, battling for a topeight spot, could not make significant ground in their ambitions as they added just a single point to their tally. Amakhosi remained eighth in the DStv Premiership standings, while Usuthu failed to move up from 12th place.
The opportunity to qualify for next season’s MTN8 competition pitted two of the nation’s oldest clubs against each other under perfect conditions in Durban. Changes were expected in the line-ups with both teams coming off draws, against Stellenbosch and TS Galaxy.
The most notable were in the away side’s starting 11 as head coach Cavin Johnson made five changes to the side that salvaged a draw against the Rockets last time out.
One of those changes was the energetic Ashley du Preez, who justified his inclusion by breaking the deadlock inside two minutes. The speedy attacker did well to anticipate and intercept a diagonal pass by Usuthu midfielder Ben Motshwari on the edge of the home box before slotting past Veli Mothwa in goal.
The opening 20 minutes were frantic and highly contested as AmaZulu sought to find a way back into the match as quickly as possible. However, Chiefs were not prepared to let up as they challenged aggressively for every ball, resulting in scrappy play.
The home side grew into the game but as they became more adventurous, they opened themselves up to the counter-attack, and Chiefs almost scored through Mduduzi Shabalala in the 37th minutes with his effort crashing off the upright.
Two minutes later, Usuthu found a deserved equaliser through striker Victor Letsoalo who showed great predatory instincts to put his team back in the game.
Following intricate play on the lefthand side, veteran winger Augustine Mulenga looped a devilish ball into the box, which was met by a flying Letsoalo in the air who guided the ball past Bruce Bvuma in goal.
The level scoreline at the half-time break was a true reflection of how the opening stanza had gone. However, Johnson on the Chiefs bench would have been slightly disappointed to see his charges fail to convert about three or four of the chances they managed to manufacture.
A huge chunk of Chiefs’ problems in the latter stages of the season can be traced to their inability to keep a clean sheet, and conceding in a seventh successive game would not have helped his team’s confidence.
After a cagey opening start to the second half, it was AmaZulu head coach Pablo Franco Martin who made the first tactical move in the way of substitutes as he threw on Bafana international Mlondi Mbanjwa in place of Abbubaker Mobara in the 55th minute.
In response, in the 61st minute Johnson introduced the guile of Edson Castillo alongside the speed of Christian Saile before throwing on the creative energy of Mfundo Vilakazi in the 75th.
With Polokwane City having displaced them in the top eight before kick-off, pressure was mounting on Chiefs to grab the winner late on. The two teams could not be separated at the end of full-time as they settled at a point apiece.
Chiefs will have another opportunity to cement their place in next season’s MTN8 when they welcome Polokwane City at FNB Stadium next, while Usuthu travel to Sekhukhune United.