Cape Town - Kaizer Chiefs coach Steve Komphela says “mental issues and nothing else” were to blame for his team’s 2-1 defeat to Platinum Stars at Cape Town Stadium on Sunday.
Chiefs squandered several scoring opportunities but were still leading 1-0 with five minutes to go before former Santos striker Eleazar Rodgers struck twice to send the thousands of Amakhosi supporters home unhappy.
While both sides were guilty of missed chances, Chiefs were particularly negligent and allowed Stars goalkeeper Mbongeni Mzimela to save more shots than he should have.
Komphela said: “In every football match you play, in as much it must be pleasing to the eye, it’s all about the result. When opportunities are there to get the result and you don’t take them, you can’t have regrets. You just have to take it on the chin and say ‘we lost it’,” he said.
“When you look at the match and ask if we were supposed to lose. Based on the number of chances, you would say no. The goalkeeper was the man of the match, but we made him man of the match. That’s why he received the award.
“I think we lacked concentration and ruthlessness. You need to have a killer instinct. The chances we had, we should have taken. You have to be highly focused and ruthless in cases like those.”
Komphela’s side went into the fixture desperate to pick up three points and launched straight into attack after the first whistle, winning a corner with just 30 seconds on the clock.
The hosts dominated the opening exchanges and kept Stars pinned back with constant pressing and a high defensive line, but the visitors nearly took the lead twice in the following moments.
Stars earned a corner in the seventh minute and Isaac Nhlapo rose highest when the ball was crossed in, rattling the cross bar with a powerful header, with Chiefs keeper Reyaad Pieterse looking beaten.
Pieterse was sent scrambling across his goalline again just two minutes later, when Ndumiso Mabena lashed a shot just wide of goal.
The hosts finally created an opportunity in the 10th minute when Siphiwe Tshabalala – deployed behind the striker – burst into the box with Mzimela in his crosshairs. Tshabalala went down after a challenge, but all appeals for a penalty were waved away by the referee.
Striker Camaldine Abraw got in on the act in the 15th minute, testing Mzimela with a powerful overhead kick after Stars failed to clear their lines at a corner.
Chiefs finally got the breakthrough in the first minute of first-half stoppage time, when Tshabalala sent a diagonal ball into the box from a free-kick. Abraw shook off his markers and his glanced header bounced off the turf and into goal.
The Amakhosi slipped straight back into rhythm when the second half got under way, but wasted two gilt-edged chances in the space of three minutes.
Midfielder Lucky Baloyi made his way into Stars’ box from the right wing in the 47th minute and slipped a pass to an unmarked George Maluleka. Mzimela was able to rush forward and palm away Maluleka’s shot when a goal looked certain.
Maluleka fluffed his lines from point-blank range a second time in the 49th minute, after more enterprising work from Baloyi. The momentum swung back towards Stars after Mzimela’s heroics and the visitors went on to hit the woodwork twice in as many minutes.
In the 55th minute, Bonginkosi Ntuli controlled a pass with his back to the near post and turned to curl a shot on to the far post, with Pieterse left rooted to his spot.
Ntuli showed off his quick feet again in the 57th minute; finding space in the crowded box and hitting the left post from an acute angle after Chiefs failed to clear.
Stars searched tirelessly for an equaliser and were nearly caught on the counter in the 85th minute when Mzimela managed to parry a deflected shot from Tshabalala.
The visitors managed to level the scores seconds later when Rodgers, a 64th minute substitute for Ntuli, sent a diving header into the bottom corner in the 86th minute.
Chiefs immediately went in search of the lead, but Stars had another surprise in store for the Amakhosi.
Dikwena won a free-kick, but the resulting shot cannoned straight into the Chiefs wall before deflecting to Rodgers, who slammed the ball past a stranded Pieterse to hand his side a 2-1 win.
* In East London Ajax led 1-0 at half-time but lost 3-1 to Chippa United.
Cape Argus