Amakhosi’s 53rd birthday celebrations were ruined by Vusi Mncube’s 49th minute goal and Sekhukhune United won the match by 1-0.

Amakhosi were favourites to snatch the three points with the build-up to the match having focused on the club’s 53rd birthday celebrations. Chiefs had a total of 22 goal attempts and five shots on target, but still, they could not find the back of the net as Sekhukhune and Ivorian international goalkeeper Badra Sangare p a man delivered a stellar performance.

Bimenyimana, who is Chiefs’ top goal scorer with seven goals in the league, was tightly marked on the day by Daniel Cardoso and Edwin Gyimah and went on to finish the game after he retired injured during the 2-0 win over Golden Arrows last weekend. But Zwane said failure to score doesn’t point to over-reliance on Bimenyimana.

“If you look at the number of chances that we created, you'll see that we had a plan B. The fact that we managed to operate half-spaces and created goal-scoring opportunities.

“If you look at the players that had shot at goals and created those chances, it was not Caleb. Actually, it was a plus for us that they committed more players to him because it freed the other players,” responded Zwane on the questions about over-reliance on Bimenyimana.

This was Chiefs’ first loss in the league since October 2022, when they went down 2-1 to Chippa United and they missed an opportunity to move up on the log.

“I’m just disappointed that we lost a game we shouldn't have lost but when we are up against a goalkeeper who is on top of his game, there is nothing we can do.

“But I’m disappointed, it was our birthday and we wanted to give a good present to our chairman and our forefathers but it did not happen but we hope to bounce back stronger,” said Zwane as he looked back at this loss.

The loss sees Chiefs remaining in the fourth spot with 24 points at the halfway mark (15 matches), 13 points behind log leaders Mamelodi Sundowns.

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