KAIZER CHIEFS 1 CITY 0City Given, Vidal, Bridge, Onuoha, Dunne, Barry, Adebayor, Petrov, DeJong, Bellamy, Wright-Phillips – subs Taylor(unused), Zabaleta(36), Ben Haim(16), Weiss(73), Etuhu(unused), Robinho(58), Bojinov(unused)
Kaizer Chiefs Khune, Mmbooi, Jambo, Rooi, Sweswe, Ntuka, Bulu, Mathebula, Nhleko, Yende, Lebese – subs Molekwane(62), Nengomasha(58), Masango(45), Dladla(45), Nale(45), Ngobeni(unused), Masenelamela(unused), Nahayo(unused), Sibeko(unused), Zwane(unused)
Adebayor made his debut in a City shirt in a game that the Chiefs started well, winning a corner and having a long distance shot off target in the first five minutes.
City then suffered a blow as Vidal challenged Chief’s keeper Khune, and the youngster came out with a nasty knee injury and was carried off to be replaced by Ben Haim.
The Blues first chance didn’t come until the 23rd minute when Petrov crossed to Bellamy in the box who teed up Barry on the edge of the 18 yard box. His powerful shot was unfortunately straight at the keeper who calmly held on to the ball.
The Chiefs nearly took the lead in the 25th minute, cutting through the city defence and a shot was blocked by a last ditch challenge from Nedum Onuoha
Another injury, this time to Richard Dunne saw the defender withdrawn to be replaced by Zabaleta in the 36th minute.
Martin Petrov seemed to be City’s best outlet and another cut back from the Bulgarian saw Bellamy go close but his shot was blocked.
Mark Hughes’ men then went behind in the 41st minute. A great shot from the edge of the area was just clawed wide by Given and from the corner Ntuka pounced to score from 6 yards although a blatant hand ball to control the ball was missed by the referee.
Debut man, Adebayor, should have equalised ten minutes into the second half. He broke down the right and a cross was cut out but the ball came back to Adebayor who then cut in but blasted over when it was easier to hit the target.
On the hour a 25 yard free kick for The Chiefs fizzed inches wide Given’s post.
City were struggling to get back into the game with less than 25 minutes left and Given was called upon again to make a good save from 25 yards.
Another injury occurred when a bad clash of heads saw Onuoha leave the field with blood gushing from a wound above the eye, and was replaced by promising youngster Weiss.
It wasn’t until the 79th minute that City got their first effort on goal when a header by Adebayor was well saved by The Chiefs’ custodian, and then within a minute Shay Given also had to pull off an excellent save as The Chiefs broke well.
