Arthur Zwane hails Kaizer Chiefs’ fighting spirit when they concede early

Kaizer Chiefs’ problem of conceding early in the 2022-23 season is balanced by a healthy ability to fight back in games, which indicates the team has strong character, coach Arthur Zwane says.

Zwane said Chiefs are working hard on eliminating their tendency of being loose early in games, which has seen Amakhosi concede first in a staggering six of their 13 league and cup games this campaign, including the friendly Macufe Cup.

As stunning a statistic is that Amakhosi, after making life hard for themselves, fought back to earn a result in all of those six matches.

Chiefs fought back again — via Bonfils-Caleb Bimenyimana’s hat-trick of penalties — to beat Stellenbosch FC 3-1 in Sunday’s DStv Premiership match at Cape Town Stadium, after Nhlanhla Mgaga put the Cape side ahead in the 29th minute.

Zwane is aware Chiefs could have had more points had they not conceded early so often, but praised his team’s character for fighting back once more away against a tight outfit of sixth-placed Stellenbosch’s quality.

“We came here knowing we were playing a very good side, a team doing very well with a good technical team and playing personnel,” Zwane said.

“So it was never going to be an easy one and we had to dig deeper, but if there's one thing I'm pleased about it's the way we started the game.

“In 30 minutes we could have scored four to five goals. We were not clinical enough and against the run of play we committed that costly mistake and found ourselves a goal down and chasing the game.

“But I must also commend the character of these boys coming back. It's never easy when you're a goal down against a team of Stellenbosch's calibre.

“We made their life a bit difficult and made them look too predictable. We forced them into the mistakes that led to the penalties. But we also had a number of chances we could have increased the scoreline.

“I'll commend that spirit of coming back all the time. It builds that character to say, 'We're not going to lose this game'. I believe it's happening for a reason.”

The first of Chiefs’ six matches where they conceded first was in the MTN8 quarterfinal against Stellenbosch where they fought back to 1-1 and then won on penalties. They then fought back to 1-1 against Marumo Gallants in a league game, and beat SuperSport United 2-1 coming back from a goal down in a Premiership match.

In the Macufe Cup Chiefs went a goal down to Royal AM, fought back to 1-1, then lost on penalties. In the first leg of their MTN8 semifinal against AmaZulu, Amakhosi fought back to 1-1 from a goal down. Then they beat Stellenbosch on Sunday after conceding first.

Despite early their shakiness in matches, Chiefs are on something of a roll in the Premiership, where two draws and three wins have seen Zwane’s team leapfrog from 14th place to fourth in a month.

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