Oh that winning feeling
Oh that winning feeling

Posted in News on Oct 02, 2006.

Returning from Durban three points richer has kept the sun shining on us at the moment, as we followed up with our victory against Moroka Swallows last weekend, with another victory in Durban on Sunday.

Getting our first win of the season under our belt was our main objective going into Sunday’s game against Golden Arrows, thankfully that is what we came out of the game with.

Though I must say that Arrows deserve a lot of credit for the way they came at us and played really well and are worthy of all the plaudits they receive for the show they put up on Sunday.



Khabo Zondo threw us with a bit of a curve ball with his starting eleven omitting the likes of Gumbi and Meiring from his starting line up, as well as Mabhuti Khanyeza although the latter did come on later in the game.

In the first twenty minutes or so they had by far the better goal scoring opportunities, had it not been for some intrepid defending and goalkeeping we could have been a goal down early on.

Rowen Fernandez stepped in and made some huge saves, in so doing once again proved and demonstrated that he is the best-shot stopper in the land.

At the back Patrick Mayo’s judgement was excellent when he covered for Rowen when Arrows attacked, as he was able to clear a certain goal off the line.



Jimmy Tau used his discretion well during the game as he adjusted well to the play of the game and also got involved in some of our attacks, it was good positive play from him and it was good to see him flowing with the game.

I gave Fabian McCarthy the captain’s armband against Arrows; I felt that in the absence of Cyril I needed a strong personality who is always involved in the action. This was Fabian's third outing as captain and suffice to say, he kept a good record intact by ensuring that we won the game.



In the first couple of exchanges against Arrows we looked a bit out of depth in the middle of the park, thanks to the experience of Thabo Mooki and the toiling of the likes of Scara and Siyabonga Nkosi we got back into the game.

Scara is improving every game with the quality of his dead balls e.g. free kicks and corners, Siyabonga thought quickly and scored a well taken goal to give us the lead.

Our second goal was a real team effort as we won the ball in defence and attacked together as a team. David Radebe’s pace helped carry the ball up field and he and Kaizer Junior thought off their feet in playing a quick short passing game which eventually saw the ball played to Derrick Spencer who got us the match winner.



This week we have some rare time to rest afforded to us as it is a weekend set by FIFA for international matches. Although Chiefs are not in action, we do have a number of players on international duty.

We have five guys with Bafana Bafana, David Obua will be in action for Uganda this weekend and Tinashe Nengomasha has received a recall to the Zimbabwean national team.

Along with Itumeleng Khune who is in action with the national under twenty- three team, we have eight players on national team duty this coming weekend. I would like to wish all of the guys the best of luck with their respective countries for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations and Olympic Qualifying games.



Our focus this week and next week will be on preparing for our next league encounter against Mamelodi Sundowns on the 14th October. We will gradually prepare for that game, and will intensify our preparations once all our players return next week.

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