Sport24.co.za | Chiefs coach not content with Pirates draw
Johannesburg – Kaizer Chiefs coach Ernst Middendorp was not a happy camper following his side’s 1-1 draw with Orlando Pirates in the Soweto derby at FNB Stadium on Saturday.
As it happened: Chiefs 1-1 Pirates
Chiefs opened the scoring via a penalty from Daniel Cardoso in the 53rd minute, before Pirates hit back with a goal from Thembinkosi Lorch in the 80th minute.
In the post-game interview on SuperSport, Middendorp was probed whether a draw was a fair result: “No, no, absolutely not,” he replied. “With where we’re coming from with the youngsters in the team… I understand we’re playing a Champions League club… but a bit more drive, a bit more going into it and we deserved to win with a one-goal advantage because of the tactical advantage… because of the drive we’ve seen in the beginning. It should be normal, maybe a 2-1 (win) then we could say it.”
The German also explained his decision to replace Happy Mashiane with Philani Zulu at half-time.
“It was just a change of the young guy… it is just not to burn somebody in this age, in his first experience I could see he lost a little bit of concentration. That was all.”
On the other hand, Orlando Pirates coach Milutin Sredojevic was pleased with the character shown by his side.
“A tough competitive match, from the start the opponent has come out with that 4-4-2 in diamond and put four players to press us… we have not done well in being press-resistant… but later on we came into the game and we had our own chances,” he said.
The Serbian continued: “However, at half-time we settled so that we matched everything on the field, like playing chess, a tactical game.
“When we had been on top our game what was supposed to be a foul for us ended being a penalty, I don’t want to comment about that.
“Being a goal down we didn’t give up, we showed character and came out and scored that goal. We could have scored more. It was not meant to be, we wanted to win, we gave everything. However, it remains 1-1, we need to pick (up) the pieces and look forward.”
It was the 53rd draw in a Soweto derby. Pirates are now unbeaten in the 12 derby clashes against Chiefs.