Arrows poke holes in Chiefs’ campaign with a home beating

With the ruling of the arbitrator having gone their way, Kaizer Chiefs were expected to not throw away any points as they have vowed to still push Mamelodi Sundowns for the Dstv Premiership title. 

But they gave Golden Arrows all the points after suffering a damaging 1-0 defeat at FNB Stadium on Saturday evening. Things disintegrated early for the Naturena side.

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An attempted back pass from Erick Mathoho in the fifth minute went horribly wrong with the ball landing kindly on Knox Mutizwa’s path. He looked up and saw Bruce Bvuma off his and scooped it over him into an empty net. 

A minute later, Chiefs could have equalised with Khama Billiat set through on goal but the ball slid away from him and Nkosingiphile Gumede managed to come out and save the Arrows. 

Abafana Bes’thende had a glorious chance for a second goal when Pule Mmodi was sent through on goal but delayed taking a shot until a Chiefs defender could recover and intercept his attempted shot.

While Chiefs had most of the ball and attacked repeatedly, it was however Arrows who looked more dangerous when going forward. They could have easily scored three more goals as they found a way to get behind the Chiefs defence. 

Amakhosi came close to a goal in the 30th minute through Keagan Dolly’s free kick, but his attempt went just over the bar. Phathutshedzo Nange also forced a save from Gumede in the 39th minute as Chiefs looked for a way back.

Nduduzo Sibiya wasted another good chance for Arrows when he found himself unmarked inside the Amakhosi box but he hurried his shot and dragged it harmlessly wide. 

At half time, Stuart Baxter rang the changes and took off Mathoho who was having a bad game and replaced him with Thabani Dube. He also withdrew Nange and sent on Siyabonga Ngezana in his place, and pushed Njabulo Blom into central midfield.

Chiefs continued their press in the second half but they just couldn’t get it right with the final pass. 

Both sides had a few good scoring chances in the second half but nothing came of them. The defeat leaves Chiefs in third place with 35 points after 20 games, a whopping 16 behind log leaders Sundowns.

Meanwhile Supersport United played to a 1-1 draw with TS Galaxy at the Mbombela Stadium earlier on.

The stalemate leaves the Rockets still rooted in the relegation zone on15th position, level on points with 14th-placed Swallows, while Matsatsantsa a Pitori jumped up to sixth spot.