Appollis shines as Rise and Shine give Amakhosi a wake-up call
MATSHELANE MAMABOLO
POLOKWANE CITY (1) 2
Apollis 17, Ramabu 89
KAIZER CHIEFS 0
HAD EVERYTHING gone according to plan, Oswin Appollis would have been wearing gold and black on Sunday. He was clad in orange and black instead, and ensured a result that would have particularly stung the former.
Without a goal in his previous five league appearances this campaign, Appollis just had to choose this particular match to break his duck. It was a classic case of rubbing salt into the wound, right?
A prime target for Chiefs at the beginning of the season, and he himself apparently keen to trade Polokwane for Naturena, the Bafana Bafana winger had to stay in the Limpopo capital as his club boss Johnny Mogaladi refused to let his star player go.
A thorough professional, the 23-year-old did not sulk as many players would after being denied a dream move but instead focused on doing his business of helping his club to victories. Though he did not score, he was always influential as City enjoyed a good start to the campaign to find themselves in the top five.
He eventually found the net yesterday to set Rise and Shine en route to a memorable victory that sees them in third place on the Betway Premiership table after 10 matches. And what a goal it was – a team goal.
City attacked Chiefs from the right with Thabang Matuludi, who played a one-two with Appollis – the latter then running into the box as the former cut across to the left. Matuludi then shared the ball with Tlou Nkwe, who delivered the ball low and hard into the box through a cluster of Chiefs defenders.
Rushwin Dortley made a vain attempt to block and clear and Appollis was on hand to send the ball a different direction past the flailing legs of Brandon Petersen into the net.
At 1-0 so early in the match, few would have installed City as winners and Chiefs could easily have ensured this was not the case as they dominated possession and created numerous scoring opportunities. But they did not use them, one of which saw substitute Potsane smash the ball against the upright ten minutes from time.
Prior to that, Chauke headed very poorly after a fantastic cross by Matuludi, a chance that could have seen the home team take a 2-0 on 67 minutes.
In the end that miss was forgotten – City scoring their second a minute from the end after a defensive slip up by Ox Mththwa gifted the hosts the ball in the final third. Appollis crossed for but Peterson did well to block the ball at Puleng Marema’s feet only for the rebound to fall perfectly into Mokibelo Ramabu’s path.
He needed no second invitation to register his maiden goal for the 2024 campaign as City registered a famous victory that once again exposed the fact that Chefs are far from getting back to being competitive. Amakhosi’s lack of killer instinct in particular, and to some extent their defensive frailties, are going to seriously undermine their efforts at getting back to the glory days, at least not this season.
And it is evident that they are going to have to conduct a lot of business to beef up their squad come the January transfer window.
Will they be able to persuade Mogaladi to sell them Appollis?
After the goal he scored yesterday, chances are the Polokwane City will be even more determined to hold on to his prized asset.