It was a straight forward tough tackling performance from Tinashe Nengomasha that helped earn him the man-of-the match award over the weekend as he played a leading role in helping Chiefs hold the upper hand over their arch rivals Orlando Pirates.

Nengomasha, who is closing on 200 league and cup appearances for The Amakhosi, has put in consistently sound performances game in and game out and has shown the same kind of form that helped him pick up the accolade as the 2003 – 2004 PSL Player on the season.

One good performance means that Nengomasha will be expected to do the same during Chiefs final home game of the season against Celtic on Wednesday. He is pretty much up for the battle and with Pirates on the verge of not making it inside the top eight and Swallows currently in ninth position, as well as BidVest Wits being in 10th spot, Tinashe would like for Chiefs to get three points off Celtic and make sure of at least one Soweto or Johannesburg team participating in next seasons top eight competition.

Celtic showdown

Nengomasha has described past matches against Celtic as dogged, tough tackling affairs and is expecting nothing less on Wednesday evening, “Celtic never take it easy when they play Chiefs if we think that it was hard against Pirates we going to be in for another gruelling challenge”. The Zimbabwean international further said “we have played ourselves into form we would not want a lapse in concentration to make us not qualify for the top eight. All it needs is for us to buckle down and get back to basics and do exactly what we did in our previous two matches, which is to take our chances and keep the pressure on them”.

Own strength

Few could argue with Nengomasha’s award as man-of-the-match on Saturday, he has pointed out that it is a team effort that won The Amakhosi the match, and another strong collective showing on Wednesday will achieve the same result for Chiefs. As Nengomasha explained “it was our togetherness and ability to cover for each other as unit that helped us defeat both Arrows and Pirates in successive matches. Even when we were under pressure in those games we used our strength to pull us through, you rely on your midfield to be dominant and that helps the rest of the team. So I feel that if I do my job it makes both the front men and the defenders job easier”.