Posted in News on Oct 16, 2004.
On the day that marked the 60th birthday of Chiefs managing director Kaizer Motaung, Amakhosi had hoped to give Motaung the ideal birthday present in the form of maximum points and most important to preserve their perfect record in the Premiership.
However Bucks, who earlier in the week announced the sacking of coach Clemens Westerhof following a dismal start to their campaign which saw them losing five of their seven outings, had other ideas and were determined to register their second win in the Premiership.
It was that determination that saw Imbalala, as Bucks are affectionately known, silence a packed FNB Stadium with the opening goal after just 31 minutes of play courtesy of Mhlonishwa Mbambo’s header.
Mbambo, who scored his third goal for the Eastern Cape side, capitalized on Chiefs’ defenders lukewarm performance and connected well with Jonathan Armogan’s cross from the right to beat Rowen Fernandez.
Playing without their deadly striker Collins Mbesuma, Chiefs turned the tables around in the dying minutes of first half when veteran midfielder and the oldest player on the park John Moshoeu, otherwise known as Shoes, danced his way around the Bucks defenders and grabbed an equaliser for Amakhosi to take his tally to three, one short Mbesuma, who the club reported to be “missing in action” earlier in the week.
With Amakhosi supporters having found their voices again and sang ‘Happy Birthday’ for the club’s chairman, Chiefs took the field for the second half even more determined not to disappoint Motaung after a brief first half scare but things went horribly wrong once again.
Bucks grabbed the lead again, this turn around thanks to Edmore Mashiri’s diving header that wrong-footed Fernandez after 58 minutes.
Mbambo turned provider this time around when he floated a cross from the right intended for Mashiri, who made no mistake.
At the point the Bucks bench, under the leadership of their long serving defender William Mugeyi must have thought they had the beating of the league champions but Thabo Mooki shattered all their dreams when he leveled matters once again five minutes later.
The Chiefs midfielder calmly lobbed the ball over the oncoming Bucks keeper Tampungu Dikete after being played through by Arthur Zwane.
Even though the draw does nothing for Chiefs in terms of movement on the Castle Premiership log, Bucks will welcome the results in more ways than one.
First the side will see the results as the beginning of good things to come in the future and most importantly the point they acquired moves them one notch up to the 14th spot, but not quite out of danger.
In fact they could find themselves in the relegation zone by the end of the day on Sunday that is if Manning Rangers, who are also on five points, manage to salvage a point against a star-studded Mamelodi Sundowns in Pretoria.