Chippa’s EL dominance continues

This after the Chilli Boys outplayed Jomo Cosmos 2-1 in an Absa Premiership clash at the Buffalo City Stadium at the weekend having beaten Ajax Cape Town 3-1 at the same venue a fortnight ago.

Now the Eastern Cape side has achieved a 100% unblemished record at the East London venue, thanks to the supporters of the beautiful game who have packed the 16000 seater stadium to the rafters on both occasions that the club has played there.

Even Chippa coach Dan “Dance” Malesela could not hide his appreciation of the support, saying the East London fans were the hottest thing right now while admitting the fans played an integral role in inspiring the club to victory.

Malesela was thrilled with his side’s victory but said there was room for improvement, especially in defence and man-marking.

“We must appreciate that we managed to win after a little slump in our previous two matches,” said an overjoyed Malesela.

“You can not stop but admire the fans here, you cannot stop but appreciate what you see here, it is beyond my words and beyond imagination that in football you have so many people passionate about the game, singing and whistling and doing all sorts of things I have seen in my playing days.”

However, Malesela said the Chilli Boys had not arrived, saying the club was being “fixed”, adding that it required patience to polish the team into becoming a well-oiled machine.

Already looking ahead to their next encounter away from home against Bloemfontein Celtic in Mangaung, Malesela said: “I think we have to be more organised at the back and man-marking must improve and also we have to improve in the middle in terms of picking up the second ball but generally we are not bad, we are picking up.”

Cosmos owner and coach Jomo Sono is in denial that his side – third from bottom in the log standings – is in trouble.

“Am I number last? No! We will be okay, to be honest, we attack a lot and we created a lot of opportunities in this game that we did not convert,” said Sono who was glaringly in defensive mode.

“I am very impressed, I think once we get two wins and get out of the relegation zone, the country will see how good these kids are because it is a young team.”

The man, known as “The Troublemaker” during his playing days was adamant that he will continue at the coaching helm for the foreseeable future.

Goals from Nkisinathi Mthiyane and an own goal by Brice Aka were enough to give the home side three points but David Zulu should have at least buried two clear cut chances for Chippa but failed to do so.

Cosmos’ solitary goal came through Luyolo Nomandela’s penalty in the 90th minute after he was brought down inside the penalty box by Zitha Macheke.

Following their victory, Chippa are sixth on the table with 25 points from 18 matches while Cosmos are in position 14 with only 14 points from the same number of matches.

Chippa are on the road to Celtic on Sunday at the Dr Molemela Stadium and Cosmos will welcome Free State Stars at Olen Park on Saturday. — zingisam@dispatch.co.za