Chippa again fail to rise to the occasion – and Chiefs rule

A PROBLEM identified early on in Chippa United’s PSL campaign continues to haunt the promoted Cape club.

On Saturday, Chippa lost 2-0 to log leaders Kaizer Chiefs – both goals were headers as the Capetonians’ vulnerability to the aerial ball was fully exploited by the Amakhosi.

In earlier Chippa fixtures this season, the team’s fragility in the air was constantly commented on.

On Saturday, while they did partic- ularly well defensively against Chiefs, and the courage and determination they showed were admirable, they couldn’t defend against the ball in the air. The opening goal came from a corner kick, which defender Tefu Mashamaite headed in, and the second from a cross which Lehlohonolo Majoro powered in with his head.

In addition, as expected, Chippa’s generous game plan, in which they allow the opposition to have the ball, was just as suicidal. To give Chiefs so much possession is inviting trouble and the Cape side should just be thankful that their Niger goalkeeper Daouda Kassaly was in brilliant form, or the scoreline could have reached embarrassing proportions.

Afterwards Chippa coach Roger Sikhakhane conceded that it was the aerial ball that had undone them.

“It was tough for us, especially in the first half,” he said. “We were too flat, we were playing too deep. We tried to come back strong in the second half, but it wasn’t enough.

“When you look at the goals we con- ceded, two of them were aerial goals, so we need to work on that. It is not a new problem… in previous games that we played we had the same problem.

“I’m not satisfied with the result. You can say that Chiefs are a good team, but we were expecting to get at least a point.”

Chiefs continue to set the pace at the top of the standings, and coach Stuart Baxter was a happy man after the win over Chippa.

“I am delighted with about 90 percent of the game,” said the former Bafana Bafana coach. “I knew Chippa were going to be a difficult. We had lots of chances, but our chance taken to chance created ratio is not good enough.

“We left the game alive for far too long. When we scored the second goal, we were pretty confident that the game was over. I would have liked a couple more goals, but I was delighted with a lot of the play.

“We were tested a little bit in terms of our belief. Chippa were resolute, so we had to keep plugging away. I thought the boys did well.”