Posted in News on Feb 25, 2013.
Dubbed as one of the epic clashes of the 2013 Nedbank Cup last 32 games, Kaizer Chiefs and BidVest Wits game lived up to the expectation in front of a near capacity crowd at the Mbombela Stadium on Saturday, 23 February 2013.
Kaizer Chiefs bugged the trend when they started the game with unfamiliar line up consisting of their five defenders, Gaxa, Gould, Mashamaite, Masilela and Mathoho all marshalled the Amakhosi back row in a 3-5-2 formation.
Wits tried from the first whistle to take the game to their visitors but found Chiefs master-plan difficult to break up. It was after 10 minutes when Chiefs began to take charge of the game, the ‘Man of the Match’, Siphiwe Shabalala was at his best on the day taking control of the proceedings in the middle of the park, ably supported by Rusike, Baloyi and Katsande while Kingston Nkhatha was threatening every time he got the ball with his diagonal runs and shots at Wits’s Ryan Harrison.
Chiefs opened the scoring in the 35th minute through Gaxa after a clever pass by Shabalala. The second half saw Chiefs going for broke and it was not surprising when Gould scored with a near post header to convert Tshabalala in-swinging corner kick to make the score 0-2 to Chiefs in the 49th minute. Mandla Masango completed the ‘Night Fever’ when he scored with a header in the 80th minute of the game. Chiefs beat Wits 3-1 in the league at the same venue on 25th of September 2012.
The demolishing job represented a lucrative 12 days for Amakhosi after a heavy schedule which saw them collecting 7 out of 9 points in the ABSA Premiership league and advancing to the last 16 of the Nedbank Cup.
Coach Baxter will be pleased to read the 2013 script of 4 games, 2 goals conceded, 8 goals scored by 8 different players (Letsholanyane, Parker, Mashamaite, Nkhatha, Baloyi, Gaxa, Gould and Masango).
Chiefs will be looking at continuing where they left off when they face Wits in the league on Saturday, 2 March at the FNB Stadium – kick-off is at 18:00 and tickets are available at Computicket and Shoprite/Checkers nationwide.