Kaizer Chiefs’ unbeaten run was interrupted on Wednesday evening when they went down 2-0 to Siwelele on a frustrating evening for Amakhosi in which nothing they tried seemed to come off.
Former Glamour Boy, Tebogo Potsane, opened the scoring early on, and Sphesihle Jeza added the second and final goal of the match in the 26th minute.
Amakhosi seemed uncharacteristically out of sorts from the start and conversely, Siwelele went on the offensive immediately and had a Jeza goal (correctly) disallowed before taking the lead in the 7th minute through Potsane, who buried the rebound from Brandon Petersen’s excellent reflex save of Manelis Mazibuko’s shot after he was set up by Gamphani Lungu’s square pass.
Chiefs struggled to find any rhythm in the opening 20 minutes, but although the hosts had the upper hand, the Gold & Black defence kept Petersen well protected. And yet, just as they looked like they were playing their way back into the game when Glody Lilepo couldn’t get the right connection on a Thabiso Monyane cross to beat Ricardo Goss, Chiefs conceded again in the 26th minute as their high defensive line was caught flat by a pass in behind from Potsane that freed Gamphani down the left, and he squared the ball to Jeza, who squeezed the ball past Petersen as he came off his line to block.
Stunned by the position they were now in, Amakhosi tried to shake off the cobwebs and began to gain some traction through some composed passing and began to ask some questions of Siwelele for the first time. Wandile Duba battled bravely against his tight marking and Mduduzi Shabalala and Pule Mmodi began to emerge as an attacking force. Aden McCarthy headed a Lebohang Maboe cross just over the bar in the 34th minute and they finished the half strongly with Duba having a shot blocked in the 41st minute, Lilepo forcing Goss into conceding a corner in added time with a stinging shot from a tight angle, yet still went into the changerooms 2-0 down.
Chiefs made a positive start to the second half in an effort to claw back the deficit, and Maboe, Duba and Shabalala all had efforts of varying accuracy within the first 10 minutes, with Shabalala’s the only one to make Goss work.
At the other end, Petersen saved an attempt from Mazibuko in the 58th minute as Siwelele threatened on the counter-attack.
Substitute, Flavio Da Silva had a header blocked almost on the goal line in the 74th minute and Lilepo’s shot two minutes later was saved by Goss. Another sub, Mfundo Vilakazi, had an effort blocked in the 79th minute and then four minutes later crossed for Inacio Miguel, also on from the bench, to head just wide.
Petersen was in action a minute later, diving to keep out Neo Rapoo’s shot as the game began to get stretched in the closing stages. Desperate late attempts from Asanele Velebayi and Lilepo in stoppage time could not find the target, and the match finished disappointingly for Amakhosi.
