Staff Reporter.
Photo Credit: Muzi Ntombela.
Kaizer Chiefs coach Gavin Hunt has taken positives from their DStv Premiership loss to Orlando Pirates.
Hunt’s charges created the better of the goalscoring opportunities and dominated possession. But football is all about taking your chances, and Pirates converted theirs to win, while Amakhosi fluffed theirs.
One of their standout misses came from defender Siyabonga Ngezana, who blasted wide a rebound from Norkovic’s missed penalty. “I am disappointed. We should have won the game as we had more than enough chances,” said Hunt.
“We were unfortunate to lose, and sometimes football does not go for you. I cannot fault the boys as they did their best to win the game,” said Hunt.
Chiefs suffered a third successive Derby defeat this season as they went down 2-1 to Orlando Pirates at Orlando Stadium on Saturday.
Amakhosi have yet to beat their arch-rivals since the arrival of Hunt, after previously suffering a 5-0 aggregate defeat in the MTN8 semi-final.
However Hunt refused to point the finger at the Serbian marksman, who was seen taking the ball ahead of regular spot-kicker Daniel Cardoso.
“I’m okay with what happened. I said Daniel can’t be taking penalties, or whoever took them last time. Samir wanted to take them, so it’s fine. No problem,” defended Hunt after the match.
Asked whether he was disappointed with Nurkovic’s effort that was poorly placed and made it easy for Richard Ofori to get a hand to, the coach responded: “No, not at all. It’s one of those things.”
Chiefs host Richards Bay in the Nedbank Cup first round at FNB Stadium on Sunday (5pm).
First round fixtures:
(5pm unless stated)
Wednesday: Polokwane City v Steenberg, Peter Mokaba Stadium; Sundowns v Stellenbosch, Loftus
Thursday: Bizana Chiefs v CPT Stars, 3pm, King Goodwill Zwelithini Stadium; Tshakhuma v SuperSport, Thohoyandou
Friday: Pretoria Callies v Royal Am, Lucas Moripe Stadium, 3pm; Maritzburg v Sekhukhune, Harry Gwala Stadium, 5pm
Saturday: JDR Stars v Pretoria University, Giant Stadium, 3pm; Pirates v Uthongathi, Orlando, 3pm; TS Galaxy v Sporting, Ellis Park, 3pm; CPT City v Celtic, Cape Town Stadium; Arrows v AmaZulu, Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium
Sunday: Swallows v Cape United, Dobsonville, 3pm; Chippa v FS Stars, Nelson Mandela Bay; Cosmos v Leopards, Olen Park, 3pm; Chiefs v Richards’ Bay, FNB Stadium
Monday: Baroka v CPT Spurs, Peter Mokaba Stadium.