Chiefs bounce back against Ajax
Siphiwe Tshabalala scored a peach of a goal against Ajax Cape Town as he put the Absa Premiership result beyond a doubt with a 3-0 win over the Urban Warriors at the Polokwane Stadium on Tuesday night.
There were fears that Kaizer Chiefs may have had one eye on the weekend’s Soweto derby against Orlando Pirates, but after having suffered their first defeat of the season against Platinum Stars, they knew they couldn’t afford another slip-up.
It was an end-to-end start to the game in which both teams managed to produce some efforts on goal, but the main focus of the game fell on the constant physical and verbal battle between Matthew Booth and Kingston Nkhatha.
The first real significant chance on goal fell to Ajax in the 33rd minute.
Lebogang Manyama showed skill to dribble past a few players, before passing a cross to Khama Billiat. The Zimbabwean controlled and turned into the box before firing a bullet towards Itumeleng Khune, who parried away in fine fashion.
It was almost as if Ajax were left in disbelief from being denied of a goal and were caught napping on the counterattack in which Chiefs took the lead two minutes later.
Bernard Parker struck a snap-shot from 15-yards, which took a hefty deflection off Booth, to hit the back of the net, 1-0.
The same line-ups turned out at the start of the second half and it was Nkhatha who found the back of the net, 57 minutes in, only for it to be signaled for a late offside as the striker was two-yards ahead of his last man.
Jan Pruijn was in need of change and he threw on Bradley Grobler in hope of bringing some extra attacking flair, but it paid no dividends as Chiefs added a second goal in the 64th minute.
The Urban Warriors’ defence gave away the ball cheaply, which resulted in a quick passing movement on the edge of the right side of the box. A sneak back heel saw Siboniso Gaxa through on goal and he fired the ball between the legs of Sander Westerveld from a tight angle six-yards out, 2-0.
It soon became plain sailing for Chiefs as they added a third goal 12 minutes later from a sublime effort by Siphiwe Tshabalala.
The midfielder was involved in a quick free-kick before he lined up a shot from 25-yards out and fired in an unstoppable, 3-0, and putting the result beyond doubt.
The goal marked his fifth in a Chiefs’ shirt against Ajax Cape Town in his career.
Ajax were handed a further blow when Nhlanhla Vilakazi, who had only been on the field for 15 minutes, had to be replaced by Paul Rusike due to injury as Ajax couldn’t find a way back into the game.
Kaizer Chiefs (1) 3 (Parker 35’, Gaxa 64’, Tshabalala 75’)
Ajax Cape Town (0) 0
Kaizer Chiefs: Khune, Gaxa, Mathoho, Mashamaite, Masilela, Dladla, Katsande, Letsholonyane, Tshabalala (Lebese 87’), Nkhatha (Majoro 64’), Parker (Rusike 77’)
Ajax: Westerveld, Lolo, Hlatshwayo, Booth, Jenniker, Graham, Losper (Grobler 63’), Wanderson [Vilakazi 66’ (Rusike 80’)], Scott, Manyama, Billiat
