Season of blues for Chiefs forward with century failure

Kaizer Chiefs forward Ashley Du Preez’s season is threatening to be the worst of his career with only two games left to save his scoring returns.

Without a goal this season, it means he is yet to score under Khalil Ben Youssef and Cedric Kaze.

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Du Preez last netted on March 4, 2025, in the 1-0 win against Magesi FC while Nasreddine Nabi was still in charge.

Since then, he has played 16 league games without a goal, with his minutes count on the field in that barren spell moving towards 750.

What will hurt him more is that he has failed to score in all competitions this season having been given 13 games.

Should there be no goal from him in the last two games, then it will become his first season to end without a goal contribution from him.

The 2025/26 campaign has been challenging.

Earlier this season, Du Preez underwent a "confidence rehabilitation" process at the club after wasting an easy scoring chance in the CAF Confederation Cup second qualifying round tie against AS Simba Kolwezi, played in Lubumbashi in October.

When video footage of that match emerged, it then led to an outburst with some fans throwing words thin on kindness towards the 28-year-old.

As a way of protecting him, Du Preez was then only fielded once in the remaining eight games of last year after that incident.

While he is not prolific, he has given the Soweto giants either a goal or an assist with every third appearance that he makes for the side.

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He has 28 goals/assists from 97 games since making the switch to Naturena from Stellenbosch FC in July 2022.

Du Preez is just three games shy of reaching 100 for Chiefs but will not be reaching that mark this season.