Chippa and SuperSport thriller ends in draw

Dan “Dance” Malesela did not mark his umpteenth return to the Chippa United hot seat with a win as he would have liked but he made sure that the Chilli Boys didn’t return to Eastern Cape empty-handed after they drew 2-2 to SuperSport United on Wednesday afternoon in a DStv Premiership clash.

The Chilli Boys drew first blood in the opening stanza through club veteran Andile Mbeyane, who benefited from a loose ball after SuperSport goalkeeper Ronwen Williams parried the initial attempt by Augustine Chidi towards the path of the alert Mbeynane who made no mistake tapping into an empty net.

In the second-half, Matsatsantsa began to play like the home side as they dominated the proceedings. Sipho Mbule was the catalyst and instigator of most of SuperSport’s surges forward. It took about five minutes from the restart for The Spartans to find the back of the net and it was Mbule who delivered an assist for Bradley Grobler’s eighth league goal of the season.

Mbule, who was unplayable, played a pin-point pass to Grobler, who rose high to head over Chippa goalkeeper Ayanda Mtshali to become the outright top goalscorer in the division as two other players, including reigning Premier Soccer League Footballer of the Year, Themba Zwane, are trailing Grobler with seven goals.

SuperSport felt they were hard done inthe 76^th minute when they felt Isaac Nhlapho had handled the ball after it was delivered by Mbule. However, referee Victor Hlungwani waved play on as he saw no handling of the ball.

Mbule was eventually withdrawn in the last 10 minutes. Matsatsantsa head coach Kaitano Tembo threw in the more defensive-minded Jamie Webber. A couple of minutes later, Chippa goalie Mtshali was made to stretch to the extreme by Gamphani Lungu who tried his luck from wide on the right flank. His shot was headed for the back of the net but Mtshali had to effect the slightest of fingertips to send the ball out to touch.

Mtshali did not have the best of luck moments later when Webber stood over the corner kick and found a towering Thamsanqa Gabuza header go past him to make it 2-1. However, Chippa did enough to equalise in the 86^th minute through Peter Maloisane to make sure Malesla’s side took away a point.

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