Super Eagles goalkeeper, Daniel Akpeyi, returned to action Tuesday night in the South African Premier Soccer League (PSL) as Kaizer Chiefs edged out his former club Chippa United 1-0 at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth.
Gregory Damons’ scored the own-goal in the 77th minute to give Amakhosi the maximum points.
The gangling Nigerian international missed Kaizer Chiefs’ 3-0 home defeat to Mamelodi Sundowns last weekend because he travelled to Lagos to renew his travel documents, the Nigerian passport.
He come into the game to replace South Africa’s top keeper Itumeleng Khune in goal. Akpeyi was among the five changes which were made by head coach Gavin Hunt with Njabulo Blom, Kearyn Baccus, Siyabonga Ngezana and Philani Zulu making their return to the starting line-up.
Chiefs set the early tone of a side eager to bounce back from a heavy loss at the weekend and came close to opening their account in the 24th minute.
A free-kick eventually fell to Leonardo Castro but with the goal at his mercy, the Colombian could only succeed in challenging the post from close range.
The Amakhosi continued to knock on the proverbial door and Lebogang Manyama’s powerful free-kick had the beating of Veli Mothwa in the Chilli Boys’ goal seven minutes later, but not the crossbar.
Chiefs hit the woodwork for a third time soon after as Mothwa pushed Khama Billiat’s shot onto the post and away from danger with the teams duly deadlocked at 0-0 at the half-time interval.
The visitors continued to dominate proceedings after the break and were only denied a goal through some exceptional goalkeeping by Mothwa who made a string of eye-catching saves to keep Chiefs from bulging the back of the net.
Chiefs finally broke the deadlock in the 77th minute, albeit via fortunate circumstances as Damons inadvertently deflected the ball across the line.
A low cross from Manyama was scooped onto the underside of the crossbar and into the back of the net by the Chilli Boys defender, who was unlucky to put the ball past Mothwa who had done so well to keep out the Chiefs attackers.
Kaizer Chiefs will host TS Galaxy in their next league match.
