Kaizer Chiefs will soon want to relocate to Athlone Stadium for they are fast turning the Cape Town venue into a happy hunting ground.
Having already dispatched Cape Town City FC at the legacy-rich stadium in the MTN8 quarter-final earlier this month, they turned the tables on 10-man Stellenbosch FC to claim a consecutive DStv Premiership victory on Wednesday evening courtesy of a cracking 35-metre Pule Mmodi strike and a Christian Saile header.
Molefi Ntseki’s side can now look forward to their crucial first-leg MTN8 semi-final on Saturday against champions Mamelodi Sundowns at FNB Stadium with renewed confidence and energy.
The victory was made ever sweeter after coach Hugo Broos said on Wednesday Kaizer Chiefs players weren’t good enough for his latest Bafana Bafana squad.
It was certainly not a vintage performance from Chiefs with Stellies holding their own for much of the first half, but the three points gained will certainly keep the fervent Amakhosi faithful content for the moment.
Mmodi’s strike is certainly an early contender for Goal of the Season with the former Golden Arrows target-man completing a neat inter-passing movement with Mduduzi Mdantsane before unleashing a thunderbolt past the returning Sage Stephens in the Stellies’ goal.
Mmodi is quickly becoming a fan-favourite among the Amakhosi with the 30-year-old bagging his third goal of the season already.
Pule Mmodi is cooking at Chiefs 🔥
— SuperSport Football ⚽️ (@SSFootball) August 30, 2023
📺 Stream the #DStvPrem live with isiZulu commentary: https://t.co/TesYUfo62x pic.twitter.com/ieslVEpltU
Equally, Democratic Republic of Congo frontman Saile after netting his first goal for his new club with a neat near post header after the ball was floated into the Stellenbosch box.
But for Stellies a week that was meant to be one of dreams for the winelands outfit is turning into a nightmare.
Not only have they slumped to their second consecutive league defeat after the 2-1 reversal to SuperSport United last Saturday, but they could now potentially also be without the influential Devon Titus for Sunday’s all-important MTN8 first-leg tie against Orlando Pirates at the same venue.
Titus was given his marching orders for a second bookable offence after he went studs up into a tackle on the hour mark.
Stellenbosch will though certainly feel that they deserved more for their efforts on the balance of play, especially for all their attacking forays in the first half when the home team had the better of the opening 45 minutes.
Steve Barker’s team piled on the pressure, but would later rue a host of missed opportunities after finding Chiefs goalkeeper Brandon Petersen in fine form.
The opening opportunity fell to Iqraam Rayners, but the Stellies striker ballooned his shot from inside the box over the crossbar before Andre de Jong also shot straight to Petersen.
Stellies kept coming at Chiefs with Rayners getting behind the Amakhosi defence down the left wing that allowed the speedy striker to send a teasing ball across the visitors’ goal which could easily have been turned into the back of Petersen’s net.
The Amakhosi skipper, who has been under pressure during the early part of this season for a couple of costly errors, showed his true value a few moments later again when Devon Titus found some space on the edge of the box to unleash a rapsing left-footed pile driver that Petersen did well to keep a rampant Stellies at bay.
Petersen, though, kept his best for the second half with Stellenbosch pushing for the equaliser. Again Rayners found himself in space, but only to find Petersen up to the task with another good save.
@ZaahierAdams