Cape Town — SuperSport United fought back gallantly to force a 1-1 draw against Chippa United in their opening Premiership clash at Lucas Moripe Stadium on Sunday evening.
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The clash was billed Master versus Pupil because SuperSport coach Gavin Hunt was pitted against one of his former players, Daine Klate, who made his debut as a Premiership coach with the Chilli Boys.
Straight from the kick-off, referee Thokozani Mkhize was called into action frequently because of fouls. The early stop-start fare did little to settle the players down, and there were four free-kicks in the opening 15 minutes.
The fourth one provided the visiting Chippa with the platform to open the scoring.
SuperSport central defender Thatayaone Ditlhokwe was blown up for a foul, and Chippa striker Siphelele Luthuli floated in a free-kick from 35m out into the opposition penalty box. The ball was expertly met with a scoring header by Zimbabwean Ronald Pfumbidzai, who out-jumped the defence in front of goal.
SuperSport goalkeeper Ricardo Goss could only watch as the ball flew past him into the roof of the net.
A few minutes later, hosts SuperSport came within a whisker of equalising, but their effort was undone by the crossbar. Chippa goalkeeper Lloyd Kazapua parried a curling shot by striker Bradly Grobler, and Iqraam Rayners pounced on the stray ball. His parting shot bounced off the upright, and Chippa’s defence cleared to avert further danger.
Just past the half-hour mark, Chippa was close with another set-piece from an identical position. This time Luthuli's free-kick was met by Chippa midfielder Roscoe Pietersen whose header went fractionally wide, although Goss had it covered this time.
SuperSport enjoyed a first-half territorial advantage, which they failed to exploit. They led the shots-at-goal count 9-2, but found themselves trailing at the interval. Grobler and Rayners threatened several times, but failed to hit the target.
At the start of the second half, SuperSport made a double change as Hunt brought on Thabang Sibanyoni for Jesse Donn, and Thalente Mbatha for Jamie Webber. The changes helped to boost Matsatsantsa’s thrust, and several pressure spells followed by scoring chances emerging for both Grobler and Rayners.
Just ahead of the hour mark, Klate brought on Ronaldo Maarman and Diego Appollis in an attempt to shore the team's defence as SuperSport continued to threaten ... but to no avail. Moments later the Grobler-Rayners combination struck to set up the equaliser.
Chippa’s defence failed to clear their lines after a fine save by Kazapua and a deft touch by Grobler finally cracked the opposition defence. Grobler, who returned after a lengthy injury-enforced lay-off, last scored in December last season.
Nine minutes from the end, Grobler scored with an acrobatic effort with a shot in mid-air, but a teammate was adjudged offside and the goal was not allowed.
In the final minute, SuperSport midfielder Grant Margeman rifled a stinging drive from the edge of the penalty area, but it struck the side-netting, as Chippa held out to salvage a share of the spoils.
In injury time, goalkeeper Goss was red-carded after reacting to a foul by Ronald Pfumbidzai.
IOL Sport