Cape Town City and Kaizer Chiefs shared the spoils in an entertaining 0-0 draw at a jam-packed Athlone Stadium in the Mother City on Saturday afternoon.
The 22,000 fans who packed the venue were highly entertained, but they were starved of goals from both sides. At the end, a draw was a fair result for both teams, as they took home a point each.
Good tempo in the opening stages
The game had a good tempo in the opening stages as action swung from end to end, with the fans also creating an electrifying atmosphere. Enthusiastic fans were still streaming into the stadium when the game had long started.
City used their home crowd support to their advantage and dominated Chiefs in the first half. But they could not convert their dominance into goals as they fluffed a number of chances upfront.
Chiefs’ Wandile Duba missed one of the easiest chances when the ball fell kindly onto his path. However, he ballooned his shot over the posts.
City came back from the halftime break more determined. And Darwin Gonzales broke through, but he shot straight at Bruce Bvuma, the Chiefs goalkeeper.
Tactical substitutions
City coach Eric Tinkler made a tactical substitution when he replaced Bafana star Khanyisa Mayo for Jody Lee Ahshene.
Chiefs also made changes of their own when Duba was taken off in the second half and Dillon Solomons took his place. Mduduzi Shabalala was also replaced by his namesake, Mduduzi Mdantsane.
On the hour mark, City were forced to make another substitution after star player Thabo Nodada was injured. This was after a horrible tackle from Sibongiseni “Ox” Mthethwa. The Chiefs midfielder received a yellow card for his actions. Towards the end, Chiefs pushed forward. But Ashley du Preez and his teammates missed a couple of scoring opportunities.
Scoring opportunities missed
After the final whistle, Amakhosi interim coach Cavin Johnson bemoaned the number of scoring opportunities his players missed. Especially in the closing stages of the game.
Chiefs’ last league game was against Orlando Pirates in the scintillating Soweto derby which ended in a 3-2 victory for the Buccaneers. Amakhosi’s next match will be against Stellenbosch FC at the FNB Stadium on Tuesday night. City will travel to Limpopo for their fixture against Sekhukhune United, also midweek.
