Chiefs knock City out on penalties

Chiefs won 4-2 on penalties

Kaizer Chiefs’ first real attempt at silverware got off to a positive start with a hard-worn victory over Cape Town City in the first round of the Telkom Knockout yesterday.

The win at the Cape Town Stadium, courtesy of a penalty shoot out, will boost Amakhosi’s chances of claiming some silverware this season, as Ernst Middendorp’s men remain at the top of the Absa Premiership standing.

Chiefs were spot on in their penalty kicks as they converted four of their five, with only Lebogang Manyama’s attempt saved by goalkeeper Peter Leeuwenburgh.

On the other hand, City missed two of their four spot kicks.

The game could have gone either way as both sides had chances to wrap it up in regulation time.

Chiefs could have taken the lead from the penalty spot but Daniel Cardoso fluffed his chance in front of goal.

The talking point from the ill-tempered clash was certainly the incident involving City midfielder Mpho Makola and the referee.

It remains a mystery why he was not punished harshly for what appeared to be the manhandling of referee Abongile Tom in his protest after a penalty was awarded to Chiefs.

Tom pointed to the spot after Khama Billiat’s short came off the hand of Taariq Fielies.

Amakhosi defender Cardoso fired the spot kick into the grandstand, much to the delight of the City bench and fans.

Kermit Erasmus’s stunning strike after the stocky striker pounced on Surprise Ralani’s looped pass to beat two defenders which silenced the near-capacity crowd as he gave City the lead.

Chiefs had to wait until the 84th minute for the equaliser from substitute Samir Nurkovic.

The game was just too physical and referee Tom had a busy afternoon trying to control the flaring tempers between the two sides. Yet he allowed the worst culprits of dirty play to escape with just yellow cards.

He flashed five cautions in the opening half – and 12 in total – six to either side.

Chiefs were forced to make two substitutions in a space of 10 minutes in the first half when Bernard Parker and Kearyn Baccus limped off.

Even the introduction of Nurkovic for Parker as well as that of George Maluleka for Baccus did not help take the game from City, who clearly had done their homework thoroughly on the same opponents who beat them 2-1 in a league clash in August.

Like in the previous encounter, City went pressing from the onset and did not allow Chiefs much time on the ball to impose their own game plan.

Erasmus, one of the scorers in the last meeting, was again in his element and the Bafana Bafana striker underlined his quality with the control and the subsequent shot that beat Daniel Akpeyi from long range. The Nigerian international goalie was called into action again in the second half as he produced double saves against Erasmus.

Chiefs had their snap attempts at goal, notably Dumisani Zuma’s long range strike that got the best out of Leeuwenburgh in the City goal.

But Chiefs soon found their way back into the game when Nurkovic equalised six minutes from regulation time.

Next up, Chiefs will attempt to consolidate their four-point lead in the league race when they travel to Pretoria to face defending champions Mamelodi Sundowns on Sunday. – Own Correspondent