Publications
Partners
The Amakhosi certainly looked the more confident of the two sides in the opening minutes of the match as they controlled the midfield battle and passed the ball around nicely.
Still, despite Chiefs early dominance the game’s opening goal went the way of the home side in the 13th minute because of a hiccup by Bafana Bafana’s number one goal keeper.
Mpho Makola fired in a long range shot that bounced just in front of Itumeleng Khune and seemed to skew of the pitch slightly which resulted in the keeper fumbling the ball straight into the path of Boitumelo Sekgobela. The Stars man made no mistake firing the ball past a sprawling Khune from six-yards out, 1-0.
That goal seemed to anger Chiefs somewhat as they pressed forward in their numbers, but still they were unable to create enough decent chances on goal besides from the one created by Knowledge Musona in the 16th minute.
Sthembiso Ngcobo should have equalised for Chiefs when Musona slipped him through on goal with a beautiful pass and with only the keeper to beat, but Kennedy Mweene spread himself well to deny the attacker.
Rather, on the rare occasions when Free State did attack they looked the more likely to score. In the 21st minute Khune was called into action when he brilliantly tipped a 25-yard Makola shot over the crossbar.
In the last minute of the half Khune was again at his very best when he found himself in a one-on-one situation with Sekgobela. The Stars attacker had plenty of time and should have scored, but Khune probably produced one of the saves of the season diving full stretch to his left to deny Sekgobela with his finger tips.
The second half saw a predictable pattern emerge as Chiefs produced attack after attack in search of the equaliser while Stars seemed content to sit back in defence and hit on the counter-attack.
Ngcoobo came close to scoring five minutes into the half when he got off a shot from the edge of the 18-yard area, but his effort just skimmed the wrong side of the upright.
Ten minutes later and it was Musona who missed a golden scoring opportunity when he headed over from only six-yards out when he should have done a lot better.
Chiefs continued to press forward and once again they came close to finding their first goal in the 70th minute when Mandla Masango showed some individual brilliance to work himself into space 12-yards out from goal, but his shot was well saved by Mweene.
Chiefs continued in their frustration as they squandered attack after attack and in the end they couldn’t find the equalising goal as Stars won 1-0 and picked up the three points.
