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JOHANNESBURG. — Kaizer Chiefs completed a league double over Orlando Pirates after a hard fought derby win at the Orlando Stadium in a DStv South African Premiership football clash on Saturday afternoon.
Chiefs’ defenders Reeve Frosler and Erick Mathoho were the match winners, scoring for Amakhosi either side of Kwame Peprah’s equaliser for Pirates.
Amakhosi’s Stuart Baxter has given insight into the injuries suffered by both Khama Billiat and Leonardo Castro against Orlando Pirates.
Billiat limped off the pitch after 39 minutes, and his place was taken Kearyn Baccus while Castro was stretchered off after 63 minutes of the encounter.
Castro lasted for 18 minutes as he had just come on from the bench — and Baxter confirmed that the duo suffered hamstring injuries.
The win pushes Chiefs up to third in the table, as Chiefs’ tactical astuteness saw them through in a tough clash against their arch-rivals.
Given the occasion, it was expected that both teams would struggle to find their feet early on, but Chiefs made their first major effort at goal count.
Zimbabwean striker Khama Billiat chased down Njabulo Blom’s long raking ball from the right and rolled it on to Parker, who then put it into the path of Reeve Frosler, who dispatched a thunderous venomous shot at goal which took a wicked turn and beat the Pirates goalkeeper Siyabonga Mpontshane to give Chiefs an 18th minute lead.
With the wind in their sails Chiefs thought they had doubled their lead when Keagan Dolly was sent through on goal in the 26th minute from a well-timed ball from Billiat and from a tight angle he beat Mpontshane and had the ball in the back of the net, only to have his effort wrongly chalked off for offside.
Replays showed that he was clearly in an onside position when he received the ball from Billiat.
As half-time approached Pirates were somewhat in the ascendency when Peprah had a go at goal in the 35th minute from distance, but Brandon Petersen was able to get down and make a comfortable save.
Amakhosi suffered a blow with the influential Zimbabwean Billiat being withdrawn when he was replaced in the 39th minute by Kearyn Baccus as a result of a hamstring injury.
Peprah thought he had headed his team back into the game when he nodded a cross from the left past Petersen in the 39th minute, but his effort was ruled out for offside as Chiefs led 1-0 at the break.
Leonardo Castro came on at half-time for Lebogang Manyama and tried his luck at goal with an effort at goal from an acute angle in the 49th minute, his effort from the edge of the Pirates penalty area going just over Mpontshane’s goal. Pirates drew level in the 55th minute when they cleared from deep in their own half and Thembinkosi Lorch was sent on his way. He played the ball to his left where Thabo Monare managed to square the ball across the face of the Chiefs goal. Petersen tried to intercept the ball but was unable to and the ball reached an unmarked Peprah who knocked it home to level matters at 1-1.
Chiefs were forced into another substitution after Castro seemed to injure his hamstring when chasing down a ball over the top and was replaced by Kgaogelo Sekgota.
Despite this setback, Chiefs continued to press for another goal. Dolly showed good intuition as he sent the ball curling towards goal from the left and he had Mpontshane sprawling to his left to push the ball out for a corner.
Chiefs Phathutshedzo Nange, who moments earlier had to be stretched off after a clash of knees with Deon Hotto, came back on the field to make a timeous interception after he knocked the ball away from Hotto, who was looking to drive home from close range.
Inside the final 10 minutes of the game Chiefs went for broke as Blom’s attempt at goal was deflected for a corner, from which Dolly’s in-swinging corner from the right was headed home by a rising Mathoho at the near post.
“Tower’’ got to the ball ahead of Ntsikelo Nyauza and with the Pirates defence all at sea, he put Chiefs 2-1 up with a trademark towering header.
The hosts thought they had equalised for a second time in the 84th minute when Olisah Ndah’s close range header hit the upright and skimmed across the goal line.
With Pirates players hands up in the air in celebration Petersen threw his hand at the ball and pushed it up onto his cross bar away from goal, with the entire circumference of the ball not crossing the line and play continued.
Petersen proved to be the hero in the dying embers of the game as he made himself big to stop substitute Zimbabwean Terrence Dzvukamanja from equalising, blocking his near range shot on the line with his leg as Chiefs held on for another win against their arch-rivals. — Supersport.com
Online Reporter