Ranga Chivaviro Ranga Chivaviro scored a late goal as Kaizer Chiefs and TS Galaxy played to a draw in their Betway Premiership clash at Mbombela Stadium in Mbombela on Monday afternoon. Photo: Kaizer Chiefs on X
Image: Kaizer Chiefs on X
A late Ranga Chivaviro goal earned Kaizer Chiefs a 1-1 draw from their Betway Premiership match – their last before Christmas – against TS Galaxy at Mbombela Stadium on Monday.
While the result is not what Chiefs would have wanted at the beginning of the game, is eases the pressure slightly on Nasreddine Nabi, who has found the going a little tough in recent weeks.
After last weekend’s game against Polokwane City, where they were hit with a sucker punch in a 2-0 defeat, Nabi made a few changes as he looked for a reaction from his charges. Bruce Bvuma making his first start of the season in between the sticks, while Thathayaone Ditlokwe started at left back, with Gaston Sirino an absentee.
Chances were few and far between in the opening exchanges, where the action was was largely in the middle of the park, with neither side creating real goalscoring chances.
Ashley du Preez had a golden opportunity to put Chiefs ahead in the 28th minute when he was played through by Wandile Duba. Du Preez, unfortunately, couldn’t find the target despite having just the goalkeeper to beat.
TS Galaxy, though, made no mistake from their first chance of the game. Defender Samukelo Kabini nodded the ball into Bvuma’s post after Chiefs failed to deal with a corner kick.
After the break, Nabi rung in the changes, bringing on Ranga Chivaviro, Tebogo Potsane and Mfundo Vilakazo for Du Preez, Njabulo Blom and Duba. Galaxy, on the other hand, kept faith in the 11 players that started the the game.
The substitutions seemed to have an early impact as Chiefs started playing with more urgency and made more forays into the Galaxy box. However, that final ball was still missing, and the home team were able to hold on to their lead.
Some brilliant work down the left hand side by Chiefs’ Mduduzi Shabalala set up Chivaviro nicely on the edge of the area, but the shot at goal was blocked by Galaxy goalscorer Kabini to keep their lead in tact.
Chiefs toiled and toiled as the second half went on as they looked for an equaliser, and it eventually came in the 6th minute of stoppage time when Chivaviro put the ball in the back of the net after TS Galaxy failed to deal with Happy Mashiane’s corner kick.
And that’s how it ended.
IOL Sport