Ngele drives Chippa back to winning ways

BONGANI MALUNGA

Mogakolodi Ngele got ended a nine game scoring drought this past weekend as his long range strike helped Chippa United secure a vital 1-0 victory over Baroka FC in the DSTV Premiership this past weekend. Ngele scored his first ever goal for Chippa in the narrow victory. The forward has now set another personal record for scoring for every club he has played for in South African football.

Ngele rolled back the years with a fine strike that left Baroka goalkeeper Washington Arubi who could only react late to the well taken free kick. The former Township Rollers is renowned for scoring all types of goals with free kicks being one of his key strengths.

However, the player had not scored from set piece range since January 2020 for Black Leopards in a 1-1 draw against Kaizer Chiefs. He recently ended that run as he scored from a near impossible position. Under normal circumstances long range free kicks are usually lobbed or curled for players to attack the ball and head it towards goal.

Ngele sensed that the goalkeeper had poor positional sense and directed the ball towards the top corner to send the Chippa camp into a frenzy. In collective terms, Ngele’s goal ended a nine game win-less streak as well as a run of five games without any Chippa player scoring. Chippa United have now jumped to the 12th spot on the log.

Meanwhile, Ngele’s Zebras teammate endured a difficult return to first team action as his club Supersport United lost 2-1 against Marumo Gallants. The result leaves them eight points behind league leaders Mamelodi Sundowns.