MATSHELANE MAMABOLO
NASREDINNE NABI’s frustration at Kaizer Chiefs' failure to kill off a match knew no bounds after Amakhosi dropped two valuable points against Royal AM at the weekend. And understandably so, for Chiefs had no reason to draw their Betway Premiership clash against the KwaZulu/Natal side they hosted out at Polokwane’s Peter Mokaba Stadium.
When they raced into a 2-0 lead with the match not even a quarter of an hour old, courtesy of strikes by Ashley du Preez and Wandisile Duba – ironically the two players who scored in the 2-1 victory over Richards Bay three days before at the same venue – you expected them to win by an avalanche of goals. They created enough scoring opportunities to have rendered the match a no contest before the break.
But the former Glamour Boys of South African football again lacked ruthlessness in front of goal and were duly punished for that as the visitors turned the tables in the second half, scoring twice via Ayabulela Maxwele and Levy Mashiane to steal a point.
Deep in the bowels of the World Cup venue afterwards, Nabi struggled to keep his frustration bottled up: “I am very, very frustrated about the two points that we lost today.
“We could have ended the first half with five or six (goals). This game could have ended seven or eight, but we did not convert the opportunities that we got and sometimes you don’t score because there is a lack of collective and if you don’t respect football, football does not respect you.”
Nabi was disappointed by the fact they were dominant but got little to show for it.
“We controlled the game from the first to the last minute but that’s what happens when you let the opponents live. The other frustrating thing is that when there’s two minutes left we fail to defend our capital. It’s very hard to understand what happened today,” he said, in reference to Chiefs conceding the equaliser in the dying minutes of the match.
The loss of those two points notwithstanding, Nabi still saw some good takeaways from his team’s showing.
“The positives today, we controlled the game, we played football, we created too many opportunities, yes, sometimes it was not consistent and without too much efficiency,” he said, agreeing with the reporters that midfielder Sibongiseni Mthethwa was brilliant yet again.
“I think ‘Ox’ understands his role. We worked together for the negative points (of his game), and he worked hard and he (is now) taking his chance. Congratulations for his performance.”
Nabi was also full of praise for his captain Yusuf Maart, who had a fantastic match, helping create the goals just as he did in the 2-1 victory over Richards Bay midweek.
“I think this was his problem of confidence for (in) himself, because sometimes he received too much attack and mentally it is difficult. In the last game, and he’s not bad; yesterday (against Bay) he gave an excellent performance; today he gave a good one. I want him to be more confident in himself and he will continue to progress.”