“Surrendering the lead is not good at all,” admitted Steve Komphela after having watched his side go down 2-1 to Baroka FC on Saturday, despite first getting 1-0 up. “We will continue to work hard at training until we find a solution to this kind of a problem.”
Kaizer Chiefs had several good opportunities to extend the lead, before allowing Baroka to come back into the match.
George Maluleka scored with a beauty after eight minutes. The lead was cancelled out already in the first half by Lewis Macha’s headed goal after which Gift Motupa’s scorcher won it for Baroka in the second half.
“We created opportunities in this game but that doesn’t count if you don’t win it,” Komphela commented. “I thought Baroka gave us a good match and they got the goals to win. Congratulations to them.”
With the score one-all at the break, the match was poised for a thriller with Amakhosi looking at the three points in front of a half-full Moses Mabhida Stadium.
“I felt we started the second half very well but we failed to get the ball in the net,” rued the Chiefs coach. “We came after the break with a positive energy out of the dressing room and I thought we showed much more intensity, really wanting to win this match.
“Even after they scored the 2-1, we got enough chances to have at least equalised, considering the goalscoring attempts we had.”
Sensing danger, Komphela pulled out all stops when he added firepower through his substitutions.
Gustavo Páez was taken off, as he was limping with an ankle injury, and replaced by Bernard Parker, while Dumsani Zuma and William Twala came on for respectively Bongolethu Jayiya and Wiseman Meyiwa.
Zuma’s substitution was his debut in an official Chiefs fixture since joining from Bloemfontein Celtic at the beginning of the season. “I was happy with his performance,” Komphela lauded. “He contributed with some good runs, threatening the opposition.”
“The substitution of Meyiwa was more a technical response to Baroka bringing on Mzwanele Mahashe to beef-up their defence,” the Chiefs mentor explained substituting Meyiwa, who had a good game. “We responded by adding to our offensive approach, looking at more firepower up-front to score.”
Some supporters got agitated by the loss. “We are supposed to answer the backlash of our supporters through the performance on the pitch,” Komphela reacted. “Nothing but winning will convince our supporters. We simply have to work even harder to get back to winning ways.”
The Glamour Boys are now in fifth spot on the Absa Premiership log, trailing Baroka with six points. “Nine points from seven matches is not good enough for Chiefs,” the coach admitted. “We have to improve drastically and make sure we become more consistent in winning our games.”
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