Kaizer Chiefs (2) 2
(Du Preez 5’, Duba 13’)

Royal AM (0) 2
(Maxwele 50’, Mashiane 90’)

New Peter Mokaba stadium, Polokwane
Betway Premiership

Kaizer Chiefs were denied victory by a last-gasp equaliser and ha to settle for a 2-2 draw against Royal AM in their Betway Premeirship encounter at the New Peter Mokaba stadium in Polokwane on Saturday.

Ashely Du Preez fired Chiefs into an early lead, which was doubled by Wandile Duba, as the hosts took a comfortable lead into the halftime break. Ayabulele surprised the home fans with a goal out of nithing early in the second half and, despite never appearing to be in too much danger, Amakhosi allowed Levy Mashiane to nip in and steal a point right at the death.

Yet another energetic start saw Amakhosi immediately establish dominance and got off to a flying start inside the first five minutes when Yusuf Maart played a perfectly weighted defence-splitting pass into the path of Du Preez, who poked the ball past the onrushing goalkeeper, Mondli Mpoto to put Chiefs into the lead. Waves of attacking phases rained down of the Royal AM rear guard as Du Preez, Wandile Duba and Mdu Shabalala’s inventive movement and clever passing orchestrated by Maart, had the visitors chasing shadows.

On 13 minutes, Dub doubled the lead, finishing of =ff a classic run to the bye-line from Dillan Solomons and a cut-back for the teenager to tap home for 2-0. Sadly, in making the decisive pass, Solomons, who was making his first league start under Nassredine Nabi in place of the suspended Reeve Frosler, landed awkwardly and had to be replaced by Njabulo Blom.

Amakhosi eased off slightly and allowed Royal AM a foothold back into the game, albeit without causing notable concern to the Chiefs defence. Du Preez came agonisingly close to scoring a third in the 27^th minute, striking the inside of the post after being set up beautifully by Gaston Sirino.

A minutes later, Brandon Petersen was called on to pull off a world-class save to deny Bandile Dlamini on a rare Royal AM foray forward.

Maart nearly crowned a glorious half with a sublime piece of skill but his deft chip just cleared the crossbar on the stroke of halftime, which arrived with the score still 2-0.

Those near misses began to look a little costly when Royal AM pulled a spectacular goal back five minutes after the ret=start. An old-fashioned punt upfield from Mpoto was flicked on in the direction of Maxweli, who stole a yard on Rushwin Dortley before hitting a 20-yardvolley past Petersen to halve the deficit.

The visitors came looking for an equaliser and had Amakhosi under pressure early in the second half. Yet, they held fast without being breached and midway through the half, Coach Nabi made a triple change that brought a welcome injection of energy into the side in the form of Ranga Chivaviro, Mfundo Vilakazi and Pule Mmodi.

Maart had a golden opportunity to seal the points with two minutes to go, only to see his shot somehow kept out by Mpoto, who knew little about how he managed to do so.

Then, in the final minutes of regulation tome, Royal Am struck in an almost identical way to their first goal, as a long ball up the right was flicked into the path of Mashiane and the substitute burst past his marker to beat Petersen ad level the scores at 2-2, which is how it ended.

The point takes Amakhosi up to 5^th in the Bewtay Premiership standings, with 11 points from seven matches. They will be back in Polokwane for their next encounter, against Polokwane City on 8 December.

Line-ups:

Kaizer Chiefs: Petersen (1), Solomons (18) (Blom (6) 16’), Dortley (14), Cross (48), Msimango (84), Mthethwa (5), Maart © (8), Shabalala (42) (Vilakazi (28) 60’), Sirino (10) (Mmodi (13) 68’), Duba (36) (Zwane (37) 68’), Du Preez (9) Chivaviro (7) 68’)

Subs not used: Bvuma (44), Ditlhokwe (24), Mashiane (19), Saile (21)

Coach: Nasreddine Nabi

Royal AM: Mpoto (25); Jiyane (31), Zulu (37), Matlaba (14), Shezi (19) (Sithebe (46) 73’), Mpisane (10) (Gumede (70) 46’), B. Dlamini (35) Sithole (11) 36’), J. Dlamini (5) Thikazi (34) 73’), Cele (77), Mahlasela © (12), Maxwele (48), George (45) (Mashiane (38) 73’)

Subs not used: Ngcobo (32); Manganyi (13), Mkhize (20), Cele (77)

Coach: John Maduka