Kaizer Chiefs 0 City 1

Our second game of this year's Vodacom Challenge resulted in a hard-fought challenge in Durban this evening. Fielding a stronger side than in Saturday's opener, including a debut for £12m signing Gareth Barry, City dictated the tempo of large parts of a game which could and probably should have resulted in both sides sharing a few more goals.

Lining up in a 4-5-1 formation with Felipe Caicedo leading the attack, Kelvin Etuhu & SWP on the flanks and a three-man midfield of Barry, Ireland & De Jong, we looked excellent until the break, with Barry in particular putting in a good showing. Pablo Zabaleta remained at right-back, Ben Mee kept his place, partnered by Ryan McGivern, and Wayne Bridge came in on the left, with Stuart Taylor again in goal.

The first 45 were exciting enough, and a huge improvement on the last performance, with both sides looking to gain advantage in what turned out to be an end-to-end half. Midfielder David Mathebula looked dangerous for the Chiefs, always eager to shoot from distance. SWP, who was kept quiet for most of the game by an excellent left-back in Masenamela, started brightly, with tigerish runs down either flank. A couple of set-pieces ensued, Barry finding McGivern from a free-kick, whose disappointing header failed to trouble the 'keeper.

Stevie Ireland had a great opportunity around the twenty-minute mark, some good work by Wayne Bridge, beating two or three players on a mazy run through the middle of the park, and looping a long ball to Ireland, who had a shot saved when he could've perhaps pulled a ball back for the advancing Caicedo & Etuhu. Gareth Barry, who had a really strong half, had a couple of chances himself, collecting a ball from Etuhu on the left, cutting in and testing the goalie with a low right-footed shot, before going close with a similar effort shortly after.

The South Africans looked lively, too, especially down their left, giving Zab a bit of a rough time without ever creating many clear-cut chances, Mathebula forcing a parry from Taylor the only real danger moment. Bridge, Barry and Ireland continued to link up well, all eager for the ball, Bridge with a long effort just wide after an indirect free-kick. In injury time we got the breakthrough, Etuhu, now on the right, managed to get free, cutting into the box before laying back for Ireland to slide home from around three yards.

At half-time Benjani and Petrov replaced Caicedo (who hadn't really done a lot besides be offside a bit and pick up a booking for kicking the ball away) and the scorer, Ireland. SWP seemed to move into a more advanced central role, with Etuhu replacing him on the right. The changes seemed to have an effect on the tempo of our play, and the second half never really got going. The Chiefs still looked dangerous during sporadic attacks, Barry picked up a booking for a shirt-pull, before being replaced by Javan Vidal, with Zab moving into midfield again, where he looked much more comfortable.

Martin Petrov began to stretch the opposition after the hour mark, skinning his full-back on two or three occasions and getting in good crosses, but with hardly any presence upfront they didn't come to much. Garrido replaced the impressive Bridge with around twenty minutes to go, Motaung missed a superb opportunity from all of two yards after some great work from Nengomasha, Weiss replaced SWP late on, Etuhu looked quite lively but somehow managed to miss an open goal in the last minute, and Benjani hobbled off with what looked like a thigh or groin strain with seconds remaining, and after doing absolutely sod all for the whole half.

Overall, it was a fairly decent performance. The two youngsters at centre-half were solid, though not really tested too much, Bridge had his best game since his debut, Barry showed some great touches and a real engine, passing well and forging chances, De Jong was solid, Ireland had a good half & Etuhu showed signs of promise that we've not seen previously. These games are, of course, primarily fitness workouts, and we were certainly made to work hard by a very athletic and quick Kaizer side whose lack of a decent striker probably cost them a draw. Their previously-mentioned left-back Masenamela really was superb, and several others, including their right-back, and Mathebula might be players we should keep an eye on.

Team:
Taylor, Zabaleta, Bridge (Garrido 71), Mee, McGivern, De Jong, Ireland (Petrov 45), Barry (Vidal 63), Wright-Phillips (Weiss 81), Caicedo (Benjani 45 [Bojinov 90]), Etuhu