Zwane cut up Kaizer Chiefs could not give ‘Bra K’ his birthday present

Arthur Zwane desperately wanted to give Kaizer Chiefs owner Kaizer Motaung a birthday present by beating Chippa United and securing top place in the DStv Premiership in Durban on Saturday.

That plan fell apart when Amakhosi could not defend their first half lead and ended up losing a match they dominated 2-1 to the Chilli Boys at Moses Mabhida Stadium.

Chiefs chair Motaung, who was not at the game on Saturday, turned 78 on Sunday and coach Zwane wanted to greet him at the club's base on Monday with another three points against Chippa — which would have been Amakhosi's fourth win in a row, giving them top position on the log.

Second-half goals by Chippa midfielder Siphelele Luthuli and Ronald Pfumbidzai, with a deflected shot, consigned Chiefs to defeat. Defender Siyabonga Ngezana headed Amakhosi into a first-half lead but poor defending by Chiefs in the second half saw them lose their fourth league match this season.

“I’m more than disappointed,” Zwane said.

“In terms of the results, yes, I think this could have been a very good present for the chairman, especially playing at home. We were on a roll in terms of not losing games at home. That’s another thing that makes me disappointed.

“When you score first, even when it’s not your day in terms of the way you want to execute yourselves, you score first and then you get another opportunity.

“You could see that at any given time we could score a second one. The keeper [Lloyd Kazapua] made a good save from Caleb's [Bimenyimana] shot and from there they equalised, then got the second goal.

“We could have easily given the chairman a good present. I hate to lose, especially games like these where at some point we had control of the game. We only have ourselves to blame.”

Zwane thought his players gave away two cheap goals to Chippa as they had bossed the game in both halves. “Those goals were manna from heaven. We actually beat ourselves today.”

Chiefs' coach was, however, happy with how his new players are performing and feels the rebuilding process is going the way he wants.

“The plan we had was to give all the players a chance because we’re in a rebuilding phase. We’re a work in progress and we wanted to see before we can start releasing players because when you’re building a style of play and identity, you want to give most of the players a fair chance,” he said.

“The identity itself will obviously talk to the players that will fit in and those who won't. After that you can see who you have to bring in and who you have to release.

“That’s why when you look at the team, it is gelling. George [Matlou] came in and did very well and played a lot of forward passes. [Siyethemba] Sithebe came in, started a bit slow, but as the game progressed he did well.

“There was a time where I think for about five minutes they couldn’t come out because we looked like scoring at any given time. We wanted to keep that consistency.

“It tells you there’s that understanding but sometimes there’s a lapse of concentration. We’ll get to a point where everyone understands his responsibility and goes out there and executes the plan.”

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