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Ngcobo sparks Chiefs win on return to Premiership action
Amakhosi take down Sekhukhune to go second in the DStv Premiership.
Phathushedzo Nange celebrates scoring Chiefs’ second goal. Picture: Sydney Mahlangu/Backpagepix.
Kaizer Chiefs laboured to a 2-0 win over Sekhukhune United on their return to DStv Premiership action on Sunday evening.
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Chiefs had refused to play in two previous Premiership games, against Cape Town City and Golden Arrows, following a Covid-19 outbreak in the team.
Amakhosi had initially written to the Premier Soccer League asking them to postpone all four of their DStv Premiership games in December, but decided this week that they would play Sekhukhune, with enough players clearly recovered for them to field a team.
The win catapulted Amakhosi back to second spotm where they had been before pulling out of their fixtures. They have collected 25 points, but are still an incredible 12 points behind runaway leaders Mamelodi Sundowns.
Starting with a changed team that had more young players, Chiefs settled in quickly and started to show some impetus in attack.
With former Amakhosi grafter Willard Katsande marshalling the midfield for Sekhukhune, you might have expected them to dominate.
But Njabulo Blom – who played as a central midfielder, partnered with Bernard Parker and Daniel Cardoso managed to neutralise Babina Noko.
Chiefs looked the more dangerous of the two sides when going forward and took the lead in the 25th minute through Nkosingiphile Ngcobo.
The diminutive attacker received the ball just outside the Sekhukhune box and unleashed a powerful curler that beat a fully-stretched Toaster Nsabata.
Chiefs could have gone into the break with an even greater lead but they couldn’t use some of their chances in the correct way.
They continued their dominance in the second half and won a number of set pieces but they could not eke anything out of them.
Amakhosi found their second goal four minutes from the end, benefiting from a defensive blunder by Sekhukhune’s Pogiso Mahlangu.
The defender tried to play a back pass to Nsabata and put him under pressure. Kgaogelo Sekgota managed to dispossess the keeper and sent the ball to Ngcobo who in turn set up Phathutshedzo Nange for an easy tap-in.
PSL chairman Irvin Khoza is, meanwhile, expected to give clarity on what will happen with the two fixtures that Chiefs failed to play in when he makes a public announcement on Monday morning.
