Chippa United secured the last spot in the semi-finals of the Nedbank Cup after a 2-0 victory over TS Galaxy at the Mbombela Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The match started off slow with both teams trying to get momentum for the gane. The Rockets striker, Samir Nurkovic gave Chippa a warning inside the opening two minutes of the match with a shot on target but it was straight at the Nigerian International goalkeeper, Stanley Nwabali.
The Chilli Boys’ defensive line seemed to have taken the warning serious as they defended the central channel well forcing TS Galaxy to play wide.
Bienvenu Eva Nga opened the scoring in the 30th minute with a well taken header from a long throw in to take his tally to two goals in the 2024 Nedbank Cup.
The 1-0 lead seemed to have given the Chilli Boys’ some confidence as they started playing more attacking football.
Galaxy had a total of four shot on targets in the first half but couldn’t find a way past the AFCON silver medalist, Nwabali.
The home team made substitutes at the start of the second half with Puso Dithejane and Macbeth Mahlangu replaced by Orebotse Mongae and Kamogelo Sebelebele.
Chippa responded by reinforcing their defence by bringing on defender Rosco Pietersen for Ayabulela Konqobe. The move seemed to have worked well in stabilizing Chippa’s defence as they always had numbers when defending.
The match got very tense and physical as the home team chase the equalizing goal. The referee was forced to issue four yellow cards to Eva Nga, Pietersen and Justice Chabalala for Chippa and Mpho Mvelase of Galaxy.
Galaxy earned themselves a penalty in the 88th minute after a handball inside the box. Nwabali made a brilliant save to deny captain Pogiso Sanoka and keep the score 1-0.
Three minutes after the home side missed the penalty, The Chilli Boys went on an attack that resulted into a penalty of their own. Pietersen converted the penalty for his first goal of the season to make it 2-0 and sealed the deal.
Four minutes extra time was added but The Chilli Boys had already wounded The Rockets with a 2-0 victory.
Gadinkame Modise was awarded the man of the match award.
Written by: Mandisa Maphisa
