Chiefs continue to stumble as they are held by TS Galaxy in Polokwane

Kaizer Chiefs were held to a 1-1 draw by TS Galaxy during their Betway Premiership clash at a packed New Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane on Saturday night. 

With this result, Amakhosi remains winless after four matches in the league, an unsatisfactory run of two draws and two losses, and they remain eighth spot on the standings. 

For Galaxy, they remain third on the log and they have missed out on an opportunity of pulling away from Stellenbosch, Sekhukhune United, Polokwane City and AmaZulu who complete the top seven. 

Stellenbosch, Sekhukhune, Polokwane and AmaZulu are involved in their battle to finish third spot at the end of the season that comes with Caf Confederation Cup football. 

Chiefs coach Nasreddine Nabi selected a strong team for this clash, but a notable absentee was midfielder Thabo Cele who has been one of their best performers since he joined a few months ago. 

It was not a train smash for Nabi as he had Yusuf Maart, Gaston Sirino and Nkosingiphile Ngcobo in the engine room, even though they could not influence this match in their favour. 

The first real chance of the match arrived after 13 minutes when Ngcobo's free-kick was saved by TS Galaxy goalkeeper Tapé Ira after Wandile Duba was fouled on the edge of the box. 

Chiefs launched another attack a few minutes later and it resulted with Sirino firing a close-range shot at Ira, but the TS Galaxy goalkeeper dived to push the ball away for safety. 

Another chance went begging for Chiefs after 26 minutes when Glody Lilepo astonishingly failed to find the target with Ira to beat after he received a telling cross from Duba. 

Just after the half-hour mark it was Dženan Zajmović who missed a good opportunity by ballooning the ball over the crossbar after the Chiefs defence failed to clear the danger. 

Chiefs finally got it right after 36 minutes when Duba pounced from close range for his fifth of the season as they punished a school-boy defensive error from Kganyane Letsoenyo. TS Galaxy were trying to lay from the back and Letsoenyo mistakenly played the ball to Sirino. The Uruguayan unleashed a shot at Ira, who pushed it in the direction of Duba to give Chiefs the lead. 

In the dying minutes of the first half, Chiefs goalkeeper Bruce Bvuma cleared the ball off the line to deny Victor Letsoalo as they tried to take something to the break. 

Chiefs suffered a blow in the second half when influential defender Inácio Miguel was carried off the field after 79 minutes with what looked like a serious thigh injury. He was replaced by Edmilson Dove, who slotted in central defence and made an immediate impact as his first involvement was a mistake that led to Galaxy's equaliser. 

From Sphesihle Maduna’s corner kick, under-pressure Dove misdirected his header at his goalkeeper Bvuma, who parried the ball on the path of Mlungisi Mbunjana to equalise after 81 minutes.