Zwane revved up about Kaizer Chiefs’ ‘BMW Emnyama’ and Sekgota show

From battling for results Kaizer Chiefs are on something of a roll, and it is the performance of players such as exciting winger Kgaogelo Sekgota the provider and Bonfils-Caleb Bimenyimana the finisher who have coach Arthur Zwane optimistic his team is on the right path.

Recent Bafana Bafana call-up Sekgota had another lively game on the wing troubling Steve Barker’s tough Stellenbosch FC as Bimenyimana’s historic first hat-trick from the penalty spot in SA professional football earned Chiefs a hard-fought 3-1 DStv Premiership win on Sunday.

In the space of a month Chiefs have jumped 10 places, from 14th after a flat draw against Marumo Gallants in Rustenburg on September 11 to fourth position, as Zwane's young, new-look combination have seemed to have found some rhythm with two draws and three wins in five league matches.

Burundian signing Bimenyimana — nicknamed “BMW Emnyama” (Black BMW) for his unpronounceable surname by the fans — has purred to being the Premiership’s unexpected joint-top scorer with Mamelodi Sundowns’ Peter Shalulile on six goals.

“You saw today he keeps it simple as a striker. He just wants to play the ball out wide, protect the ball, play those one-twos,” Zwane said after his team’s win at Cape Town Stadium.

“He’s also a skilful player. He’s not just a tall boy. And he’s quick for his structure.

“We’ve always wanted a player who can release players like “Ash” [Ashley du Preez]. He freed Ash so that the ball-carrier at that time could pick one of the two of them.

“That’s why Ashley was free twice, because Caleb will attract defenders. He’s also clever on the ball. He’s not just a striker waiting for the crosses.

“We’re not a team that will rely on the high ball. We want to penetrate through the middle, use width to create scoring opportunities.

“Sekgota has improved tremendously because he’s coachable. He’s one player who wants to learn new things, wants to know, ‘Coach, am I doing the right thing?’.

“These are the type of players you have to feed information to slowly, don't overload him.

“He’s one of our key players this season. Last season he was more of an impact player but when you look at him now he can play 90 minutes.”

Fighting back from a goal down, as Chiefs had to after Nhlanha Mgaga’s 29th-minute opener, is not easy against a tight outfit such as Stellenbosch and it shows a growing level of character in Zwane’s Amakhosi. Three goals came from penalties, of which the first seemed softly awarded, but Chiefs also dominated play.

Zwane said Bimenyimana — whose successful spot-kicks came four minutes into first-half injury time and in the 49th and 56th minutes — was replaced by Nkosingiphile Ngcobo in the 59th because the Burundian had picked up a yellow card.

“By nature he’s aggressive and when you keep him on the field anything can happen. He’d already scored three goals so what more could we expect from him, and we needed him for the next game.”

Chiefs have almost a week to further tighten up their gameplan ahead of their league meeting against 11th-placed Chippa United at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday (5.30pm).