Kaizer Chiefs and Santos draw

While Chiefs dominated proceedings, possession and shots on goal, it was nearly the People’s Team who stole the victory in the second half after striking the woodwork on two occasions.

The match, though, certainly didn’t start that way and Chiefs nearly took the lead in the opening 30 seconds when ‘Man of the Match’ Siphiwe Tshabalala made his way into the box from the left side of the field. His powerful 16-yard shot, however, was brilliantly saved by Tshepo Motsoeneng acrobatically tipping the ball over the crossbar.

And even though Chiefs controlled the possession stakes after that, Tshabalala’s effort in the first minute was as close as the Phefeni Glamour Boys came to breaking the deadlock.

To be honest, the home side lacked imagination in attack and struggled to break down a rather stubborn Santos defence.

Instead, it was the visitors who finished the half the stronger of the two teams and should really have taken the lead a minute before the half time break when Graham King found himself one-on-one with the keeper. The Santos man, though, failed to take full advantage as he dragged his 12-yard shot wide of the goal.

The second half was more of the same as the Amakhosi dictated terms on the pitch again. This half, however, they tried their luck from long range, but with the same result as the first half.

In the 51st minute Motsoeneng spilled a cross from the right into the path of Tinashe Nengomasha who let fly form 25-yards out, but his effort went narrowly wide.

Three minutes later and a nice interchange of passes by Chiefs concluded with Tshabalala trying to lob the Santos keeper from just inside the 18-yard area, but again the shot went agonisingly over the target.

As Chiefs pressed forward, Santos game plan became more evident as they looked to hit on the counter-attack and they nearly did so in the 65thminunte.

The People’s Team broke from the back and King, the sole attacker came within inches of scoring when 20-yard shot hit the crossbar and bounced out of play.

Then ten minutes before the full time whistle Santos hit the woodwork for the second time. Eleazar Rodgers latched onto a corner-kick with a powerful six-yard header that struck the underside of the crossbar and then bounced away from danger.

The match finished 0-0 as the teams shared the spoils. Chiefs will be bitterly disappointed with the draw that seems them fail to pick up ground on PSL leaders SuperSport United. The Amakhosi remain in second spot, four points behind Supersport.