Joy as Chiefs remain unbeaten at ancestral home
Kabelo Boranabi | Monday March 14, 2022 16:00
Magosi have now made it two wins out of two games since returning to their ancestral ground, Riverplate for the first time in 25 years. The win increases Chiefs' chances of sneaking into the promotional places and to put the cherry on top, it was the first against Forest in 10 meetings. The victory was well received by the hundreds of their fans who thronged the grounds.
The fans broke into their traditional dikhwaere or dikopelo as the genre is called in Kgatleng and brought in a vibrant mood to a very closely contested tie at 'Skanska'. On the pitch, it was a rather slow start for both side, but the home side had a slightly upper hand but failed to connect well in the final third for the first 20 minutes.
The visitors were dealt an injury blow early as skipper, Mogomotsi Kerebotswe was stretched off and in his place came in Terrence Mandaza who was deployed into a creative midfield role. On the 22nd minute, Mampori was the first to give a go at goal but his effort went wide off the posts. Four minutes later, Khumoetsile Kufigwa set up Oarabile Powe but the latter headed just wide off the post.
Kufigwa continued to look threatening on the left wing but his crosses did not bear results. Forest on the other end sat back and looked to catch their opponents on the break. The two teams were locked at 0-0 at half time. Ten minutes into the second half, Kufigwa once again delivered a cross inside the box and Powe's acrobatic effort was blocked and eventually cleared by the defence. On the other end, Gobona Ramotlhwa forced a brilliant save from the goalkeeper, Tshenolo Letshelea.
Mampori's free kick attempt on the 61st minute was finger tipped over the bar by the goalkeeper who was on great form on the afternoon. Magosi piled pressure on their opponents for majority of the last half. Nine minutes to time, the home side was awarded a penalty after the referee called for a hand ball from scramble inside the box.
Mampori stepped up and beat the goalkeeper to the top corner to send Riverplate grounds into wild celebrations. Three minutes to time, it could been 2-0 for the home side but Emmanuel Thabe headed Kufingwa's cross wide.
The win stretches Magosi's win streak now to three games. "I am happy with the players' effort but my midfield was slow in giving the attack support hence why Forest dominated that part of play. It was very important to win this game. We are chasing the league and these are the log leaders and we needed to beat them. This was a very important win for us. I should give it to the supporters, they should keep on coming in big numbers you could see how the players ended the game.
They are motivated by a large crowd," Chiefs' Thatayaone Tebele said after the game. Forest's coach Reetsang Letlole bemoaned a collapse of concentration in the last minutes and said the defeat is just a speed hump for his team's charge towards automatic promotion.
The Teams:
Chiefs: Tshenolo Letshelea, Ishmael Metlhaleng, Gomotsang Tselaesele, Bokamoso Mbambo, Donald Pulane, Arnold Mampori, Oteng Mothibi, Alfred Gopolang (Emmanuel Thabe), Oarabile Nelson Powe (Melvin Moyo), Khumoetsile Kufigwa, Maatla Magosha (Donald Moilwe)
Forest: Michael James, Botlhe Pansiri, Kebareng Baikisi, Oreneile Motanzi, Maikano Sekoko, Mogomotsi Kerebotswe (Terrence Mandaza), Donald Botshoma (Tlamelo Rantlole), Phenyo Raphuti, Gobona Ramotlhwa, Wilfred Dithwane, Joseph Raboso
Chiefs 1 (Mampori 81st) Forest 0