Has Zwane found a ‘perfect’ defensive pairing in Ngezana and Dove? 

Kaizer Chiefs coach Arthur Zwane was full of praise for his central defensive pairing of Siyabonga Ngezana and Edmilson Dove after last weekend’s win. 

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Zwane’s side registered their first DStv Premiership win of the year with a 2-0 beating of Royal AM in Polokwane. 

Prior to this match, Amakhosi had conceded six goals in three games which they all lost and this called for changes. 

Zwane returned Ngezana back into the starting team, taking Zitha Kwinika’s place. Kwinika had been unlucky with mistakes in the past few games. 

Ngezana was paired with Dove and they did fairly well in stopping Royal AM’s attacks. 

Zwane was full of praise for the pair after the game, saying they inspired confidence in midfielders to attack more and not worry too much about the back door. 

“I must give credit to our defence… the central pairing of Dove and Siya (Ngezana) did well,” said Zwane after the game in Polokwane. 

They inspired confidence

“In terms of the organisation and making sure that there was no space in behind, they managed to control the space in front of them and behind them.

“That also gave confidence to our midfielders that if the ball bypassed them, they knew that those guys would win the one-on-one battles,” added Zwane. 

The Amakhosi mentor may have to reshuffle his defence yet again as both his trusted right wing backs Reeve Frosler and Dillon Solomons got injured. 

Frosler was forced out just five minutes into the game after an unfortunate collusion with Ngezana. 

He was later seen in the stands with an ice block to his chin, suggesting he might have fractured it in the incident. 

Solomons was also stretched off in the latter stages of the game and Zwane suspects he dislocated a shoulder. 

“The worrying factor from this match is losing two key players in the right-back position,” Zwane said.

“I am not too sure what happened with Frosler but he might have broken his cheek. Solomons, I think there’s a shoulder dislocation,” explained Zwane. 

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Chiefs have a testing game against TS Galaxy on Sunday – they will be high on confidence after their 4-0 defeat of Golden Arrows last week. 

The two sides already have an interesting history and meet at Mbombela Stadium.