‘No need to cry’ as Chiefs survive another derby whipping

“Things will turnaround for the better, no need to cry”. This song reverberated around the entire stadium just before kick-off as the whipping boys of the Soweto derby, Kaizer Chiefs, sought to rally their faithful around their faltering team.

Amakhosi had a close shave with yet another whipping in the famous Soweto derby when they only managed a 1-1 draw with their arch-rivals, Orlando Pirates in the last derby of the 2018/19 season at the FNB Stadium.

The tactics of the day in the Soweto Glamour Boys were to stun the sea robbers with a quick goal or two as evidence in Amakhosi’s dominance and relentless attack of the Ghosts which resulted in numerous near misses, with one as early as in 4^th minute of the game.

As the away team, the sea robbers started the game defensively and absorbed much of the pressure before turning things around to mount their own attacking efforts, which all ended as nothing but near misses as well.

Both teams settled for a goalless first half but Chiefs were the first to find the back of the net through a penalty taken by defender Daniel Cardoso after Khama Billiat was fouled in the box and the referee never hesitated in pointing to spot.

After this penalty, it was game on as Pirates upped the stakes in search of an equaliser that eluded them for most of the time, with more near misses similar to those of the first half.

The match could safely be described as a game of two halves, in that Chiefs dominated the first half while the bulk of the second half belonged to Pirates, most probably as a result of a pep talk during the break.

It was only 10 minutes before the ninety that Pirates managed to snatch victory from the jaws of a beleaguered Amakhosi, when the evergreen Buccaneer Thembinkosi Lorch received a bobbed ball over midfielders and defenders, rounded the advancing keeper and rattled the empty net.

The next 10 minutes to the ninety, including the referee’s five minutes of optional time, saw both teams resorting to a cautious strategy so as not to concede a last gasp goal that could easily hand the winner to either side.

And 1-1 it ended, with yet another infamous draw that allowed Pirates to stretch its unbeaten record in the derby to six years.