‘Sometimes we have been unlucky and sometimes we miss chances,’ added Khalil Ben Youssef.
Kaizer Chiefs interim co-head coach Khalil Ben Youssef praised his players despite their wastefulness in front of goal in a 1-1 Betway Premiership draw with AmaZulu at FNB Stadium on Wednesday.
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Glody Lilepo saw a penalty saved by Man-of-the-March Darren Johnson, while Khanyisa Mayo seemed to lose the plot on the stroke of half time. With Pule Mmodi’s shot already heading in, Mayo tapped it over the line when clearly in an offside position.
Chiefs’ Ben Youssef – ‘I am so happy with the performance’
“I am so happy with the performance of the players,” Ben Youssef told SuperSport TV after the match.
“I think after a lot of games, every three days with the same squad … everyone saw how many chances we created. The Man-of-the-Match was the Amazulu ‘keeper.”
Chiefs beat Stellenbosch 2-0 away from home in their opening Betway Premiership match of the season. But in every game since, in all competitions, Amakhosi have failed to score more than once.
“I said before we are struggling in the last third. Sometimes we have been unlucky and sometimes we miss chances,” added Ben Youssef.
“We have to work and keep going to find a solution. The next game is Stellenbosch (in the last 16 of the Carling Knockout). Then we have two weeks (the international break) to fix everything.”
“In the first 30 minutes of the game we had a minimum of four chances. We conceded a goal (Thandolwenkosi Ngwenya gave AmaZulu the lead). We lost our focus.
‘We continue to work’
“We missed a penalty but we had a strong mindset and scored our first goal with Shabalala. Then we had the opportunity when Mayo touched the ball and was offside. I also thought in the second half we deserved to win.”
Chiefs have now missed two penalties in their last two Premiership matches – Gaston Sirino failed to score against Marumo Gallants and Lilepo couldn’t score here.
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“Lilepo scored three penalties last season and Sirino scored a penalty in the Nedbank Cup final,” said Ben Youssef.
“Congratulations to the (AmaZulu) goalkeeper. We continue to work.”