Chiefs superb – Komphela

FOLLOWING his team’s first victory of the season, over Free State Stars at the FNB Stadium on Saturday, Kaizer Chiefs coach Steve Komphela says he is delighted with the performance.

Two own goals from Stars centre-backs Robert Sankara and Liberty Chokoroma, George Lebese’s strike on the stroke of half-time and a spectacular goal by Siphiwe Tshabalala in the second half were enough to seal a 4-0 victory for the Soweto giants.

“I felt from a match perspective we grew as the game progressed,” said Komphele.

“I felt it went very well and as the game ran its course the goals started coming. The two own goals came from us applying pressure. And the goal that Shabba scored, to me it stood out, one of the contenders for the season. I don’t know what is going on in the PSL; a lot of beautiful goals are being scored which is inspiring.”

“This was a bad result. Maybe the loss of Moeketsi Sekola has given us problems because we don’t have stability. All of our strikers are new, like Sthembiso Ncqobo who has just come up. But maybe when people like Sekola come back the situation will improve,” Stars coach Kinna Phiri said after two losses to start the season.

“To me, when you lose these games it is a wake-up call. As I said earlier on, this is not a team that has top players, and we believe in nurturing young players from the National First Division (NFD) and the ABC Motsepe League.”

Phiri insists that it is still too early to panic: “Most of the players out there are very young. It is just a case of giving them a chance to play and mature. We have to fight and I think introducing young players into the team shows we have a future.

“If you keep persisting with older players it won’t work. You do need two or three guys with experience, but if you’re looking at building the team for the future, we need the youngsters.”

Meanwhile, Orlando Pirates are through to the semi-finals of the CAF Confederation Cup.

Goals from Mpho Makola and Oupa Manyisa were enough to beat AC Leopards from the Congo 2-0 at the Orlando Stadium on Saturday.