Mduduzi Shabalala scored a goal-of-the-season contender to earn Kaizer Chiefs a well-deserved 1-0 victory over Chippa United in their final Betway Premiership match of the year at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Sunday.
Meanwhile, an excellent save from Bruce Bvuma late on secured the Club’s first clean sheet of the league campaign.
The precociously talented Shabalala made the decisive contribution of a hard-fought encounter on the stroke of halftime when he glided past three defenders and then smashed the ball home in a mesmerising run that had the massive crowd that had come out in support of the Glamour Boys gasping with wonder and delight.
It proved to be the only goal of the game, despite Amakhosi’s overall dominance.In a fairly uneventful opening half, Amakhosi made their usual bright start, energetically moving the ball crisply and accurately and Chippa were soon on the back foot and settling into their distinctive low block.
Yusuf Maart came desperately close to opening the scoring after nine minutes when his far post header from a perfectly flighted Wandile Duba cross was tipped away at full stretch by Chilli Boys’ Nigerian international goalkeeper, Stanley Nwabali.
The skipper suffered a nasty gash above his eye for his troubles but soldiered on bravely after being patched up with a bandage.
Duba almost created another chance three minutes later as another tempting cross found Pule Mmodi stealing in at the far post but the winger’s header across goal was cleared just before reaching Ashley Du Preez in a dangerous position.
Chiefs continued to press for a goal but the well-marshalled Chippa defence doggedly kept them out until late in the half.First, on 42 minutes, Duba sent a shot that was curling into the far top corner until Nwabali produced another full-stretch save to tip the ball around the post.
Then, in the final minutes of the opening stanza, Shabalala received the ball on the left touchline and cut inside, going on a spectacular dribble that left Seun Ndlovu, Andile Jabi and Thabo Makhele in his wake before lashing the ball inside Nwabali’s near post to send Amakhosi into the break with a deserved 1-0 lead.
Amakhosi had largely the better of the second half, on balance and might have done well to add a second to give themselves some breathing room. Rushwin Dortley saw a header fly over the bar five minutes after the restart and Shabalala shot straight at Nwabali after being set up by Duba a few minutes later.
At times, Amakhosi played some sumptuous football, thrilling the crowd with flawing moves that indicate clear evidence of improvement from previous performances.
As the match drew to a close, Chippa committed more resources to attack and had Chiefs defending deep at the clock ticked down. They owe a debt of gratitude to goalkeeper, Bruce Bvuma for pulling off an excellent reflex save to deny Chilli Boys substitute Giovanni Philander a last minute equaliser to preserve his clean sheet and, more crucially, the lead.
At the other end, Amakhosi sub, Ranga Chivaviro had a chance to put the result out of reach but shot too close to Nwabali, who saved comfortably.
It did not matter in the end and moments later referee, Christopher Kistoor blew the final whistle and the three points were safely in the bag.
The result elevates Chiefs to 7th in the league standings, with 15 points from their 10 games and they will go into their first assignment of 2025, against Cape Town City at the DHL Cape Town stadium, on 5 January, buoyed with confidence.
