Joseph Molangoane was as hot as a jalapeno as he single-handedly inspired Chippa United to a hard-fought 3-1 victory over Ajax Cape Town at the Buffalo City Stadium in East London yesterday.
The victory cemented the Chilli Boys’ spot inside the league’s top eight bracket as the season reached the halfway point.
The more than 10000 strong crowd that packed the stadium to the rafters got their money’s worth, thanks to Chippa’s entertaining running football.
The Chilli Boys have sinced moved to sixth place on the log standings on 22 points after 15 outings, while Ajax are still languishing at position 12 with 16 points from the same number of games. With a convincing victory like this in their very first match in Buffalo City Metro, Chippa’s future stay in the city seems guaranteed capacity-crowd attendance.
Access to the stadium needs to be improved though, as scores of people were still lining up outside the venue at the scheduled starting time of the match.
The match finally started after a 15- minute delay due to allow the scores of people that were lining up outside to enter the stadium.
Perhaps to blame for the delay are Chippa United for handing the organising rights of the match to the municipality, which does not have the expertise to coordinate a match of PSL magnitude and size.
The opening stanza was not the most exciting with both sides playing it cautiously and familiarising themselves with the pitch. But the closing half was the exact opposite, with the hosts dominating play from start to finish.
Just as people were still settling in, Prince Nxumalo banged in the opener for the visitors and stunned the Chilli Boys faithful, who rallied behind their team in song.
Possession-wise, the game was evenly balanced in the opening phases without much to write home about as the battle was at the centre of the park.
The closest Chilli Boys came to levelling matters was in the 25th minute when Erick Chipeta’s shot from a set-piece just outside the box was punched away by Anssi Jaakkola.
Coming back from the change room, Chippa upped the gear and dominated the visitors with vigorous attacks led by Molangoane, who appeared to be enjoying himself like never before.
Just five minutes back from the break, Molangoane's pass found Andile Mbenyane, whose thunderous strike was denied by the crossbar.
But minutes later, as Molangoane continued to torture the Ajax defence, he found David Zulu who banged in the equaliser from close range.
Barely five minutes later, after several supplies, some of which that were wasted by his teammates, Molangoane fired in the second goal for the hosts in the near post.
The 27-year-old Molangoane would be replaced by Ugonna Uzochukwu 10 minutes from time amidst a disapproving crowd who were enjoying the former’s mesmerising skills with the ball.
Some spectators were leaving the stadium thinking 2-1 would be the final score, when substitute Xola Mlambo put the final nail in Ajax’s coffin with a long-range strike over Jaakkola’s head. — zingisam@dispatch.co.za
Fiery Chippa blast Ajax
The victory cemented the Chilli Boys’ spot inside the league’s top eight bracket as the season reached the halfway point.
The more than 10000 strong crowd that packed the stadium to the rafters got their money’s worth, thanks to Chippa’s entertaining running football.
The Chilli Boys have sinced moved to sixth place on the log standings on 22 points after 15 outings, while Ajax are still languishing at position 12 with 16 points from the same number of games. With a convincing victory like this in their very first match in Buffalo City Metro, Chippa’s future stay in the city seems guaranteed capacity-crowd attendance.
Access to the stadium needs to be improved though, as scores of people were still lining up outside the venue at the scheduled starting time of the match.
The match finally started after a 15- minute delay due to allow the scores of people that were lining up outside to enter the stadium.
Perhaps to blame for the delay are Chippa United for handing the organising rights of the match to the municipality, which does not have the expertise to coordinate a match of PSL magnitude and size.
The opening stanza was not the most exciting with both sides playing it cautiously and familiarising themselves with the pitch. But the closing half was the exact opposite, with the hosts dominating play from start to finish.
Just as people were still settling in, Prince Nxumalo banged in the opener for the visitors and stunned the Chilli Boys faithful, who rallied behind their team in song.
Possession-wise, the game was evenly balanced in the opening phases without much to write home about as the battle was at the centre of the park.
The closest Chilli Boys came to levelling matters was in the 25th minute when Erick Chipeta’s shot from a set-piece just outside the box was punched away by Anssi Jaakkola.
Coming back from the change room, Chippa upped the gear and dominated the visitors with vigorous attacks led by Molangoane, who appeared to be enjoying himself like never before.
Just five minutes back from the break, Molangoane's pass found Andile Mbenyane, whose thunderous strike was denied by the crossbar.
But minutes later, as Molangoane continued to torture the Ajax defence, he found David Zulu who banged in the equaliser from close range.
Barely five minutes later, after several supplies, some of which that were wasted by his teammates, Molangoane fired in the second goal for the hosts in the near post.
The 27-year-old Molangoane would be replaced by Ugonna Uzochukwu 10 minutes from time amidst a disapproving crowd who were enjoying the former’s mesmerising skills with the ball.
Some spectators were leaving the stadium thinking 2-1 would be the final score, when substitute Xola Mlambo put the final nail in Ajax’s coffin with a long-range strike over Jaakkola’s head. — zingisam@dispatch.co.za
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