Kaizer Chiefs (0) 0

Lamontville Golden Arrows (0) 1
(Shitolo 56’)

Kaizer Chiefs went down 1-0 to Lamontville Golden Arrows at a rainy Moses Mabhida Stadium in their Betway Premiership encounter in Durban on Sunday afternoon.

Arrows skipper, Gladwin Shitolo scored the game’s only goal in the 56^th minute on a disappointing day for the thousands of Amakhosi fans who braved the inclement weather to come out in a show of support for the team.

The opening exchanges revealed that both teams were willing to take the game to the opposition and while there were no real scoring opportunities to speak of, there was much to admire from Amakhosi’s build-up play – particularly down the left flank where Tebogo Potsane, making his first start of the season following a long injury lay-off, posed a constant threat with his direct running.

As the half progressed, Chiefs’ dominance began to tell and they came close to opening their account in the 34^th minute when Sibongiseni Mthethwa chipped a beautiful pass over the advancing Arrows defence and Inacio Miguel just failed to connect with only the goalkeeper to beat. Two minutes later, Bruce Bvuma has to act smartly to protect his goal after a Siyanda Mthanti free kick evaded everybody in the box and bounced up awkwardly.

Moments later, Mduduzi Shabalala found himself clean through and rounded the ’keeper only for Nduduzo Sibiya to recover and nip the ball away from him as he was about to roll the ball into an empty net.

The best chance of the half fell to Shabalala in the 39^th minute when, after a sweeping run up field by Bradley Cross, Wandile Duba slipped his teammate in behind the defence but Shaba could not quite get enough curl on his shot to steer the ball inside the post. And the teams went into halftime level at 0-0.

Substitute, Ranga Chivaviro will feel he ought to have done better when put through by Shabalala in the 48^th minute, shooting well wide as goalkeeper, Ismail Watenga came out to narrow the angle.

Then, 11 minutes after the restart, a deflected Arrows free kick ricocheted to Sibaya, whose shot was parried by Bvuma into the path of Shitolo and he made no mistake from close range to put his team into the lead.

Amakhosi gallantly attempted to regain an equal footing and came desperately close just past the hour mark when Pule Mmodi, on as a sub for only a matter of seconds, played a perfectly flighted ball towards the far post, where another substitute, Reeve Frosler, met the ball on the stretch but only managed to guide the ball onto the upright, as Arrows escaped once again.

Cross also came within a whisker of getting onto the end of a Nkosingiphile Ngcobo free kick, but that was as much as Amakhosi could muster and, with conditions deteriorating as the rain fell harder, they were ultimately unable to find the goal they needed.

Chiefs move down to 6^th place in the Betway Premiership standings, remaining on 18 points after 13 rounds. They will have extra motivation to give their loyal fans something to celebrate when they play host to Sekhukhune United at the same venue next weekend, Sunday 19 January.

Line-ups:

Kaizer Chiefs: Bvuma (44), Miguel (84), Ditlhokwe (24), Cross (48), Blom (6) (Frosler (39) 46’), Mthethwa (5), Maart © (8) (Ngcobo (12) 61’), Shabalala (42) (Matlou (22) 66’), Potsane (11) (Chivaviro (7) 46’) Vilakazi (28) (Mmodi (13) 61’), Duba (36)

Subs not used: Petersen (1), Msimango (25), Mashiane (19), Zwane (37)

Coach: Nasreddine Nabi

Lamontville Golden Arrows: Watenga (1), Shitolo © (5) (Lukhele (16) 64’), Phillips (33) (Theron (42) 46’), S. Cele (30), Mwengani (13), van Rooi (14) (Ncube (31) 73’), Mantshiyane (35), Ndwandwe (12), Sibiya (11)( Zwane (41) 80’), Mthanti (38), Moon (9) (Malinga (7) 64’)

Subs not used: Maova (34), Dlamini (24), B. Cele (44), Tlolane (6)

Coach: Kagisho Dikgacoi