Molefi Ntseki On Brandon Petersen

Kaizer Chiefs FC head coach Molefi Ntseki has defended Brando Petersen whom fans are now blaming him for the goals he conceded.

Petersen turned from hero to villain after keeping his side in the tie with several brilliant saves but fumbled Neo Maema’s shot in the 90th minute that saw the home side win 2-1.

The club’s number one and captain in the absence of Itumeleng Khune and Keagan Dolly also played a role in the first goal, passing the ball to Edson Castillo, who found himself under pressure and lost the ball, leading to Peter Shalulile setting up Lucas Ribeiro for the opener.

While Rulani Mokwena insisted after the game that Petersen should’ve received the Man of the Match award, Ntseki also came out in defence of his keeper.

“When it comes to Brandon, I think things like this do happen in football,” he said.

“If you were to count how many times did he come out to save the team, it would nullify the mistakes he made that led to the goals.

“Anything that happens in a game of football, it’s a team effort. If we were to look back and try to trace where the first mistake was made, it is not only about him letting in the goal but the whole team made a mistake and that’s how we conceded.”

Chiefs stayed on one point after their opening two DStv Premiership games, while Sundowns moved to first position and six points.

Amakhosi will now turn their attention to the MTN8 quarter-final where they will face Cape Town City in Cape Town on Sunday.

Apart from that, Kaizer Chiefs head coach Molefi Ntseki wasn’t happy was his team’s performance in the first half against Mamelodi Sundowns and insisted a lack of concentration cost them the game.

Ntseki saw his side give away a point after Brandon Petersen, who had kept his side in the game with many brilliant saves, fumbled a shot by Neo Maema to hand the home team three points.

The Chiefs coach insisted after the match that his side sat too deep in the first half but corrected their mistakes at half-time.

“If you look at our game plan, in the first half we gave them too much possession on the ball, which was not the plan because we’re fully aware that the like to slow down the game, especially when it’s a goal kick,” he told SuperSport TV.

“The mistake we made was to drop deep and to allow them to dictate terms in terms of team play and playing through the midfield.

“When we came into he second half, we addressed two things at half-time, one: let’s put pressure on them, let’s not allow them to play through the midfield and I think we did very well in the second half, taking control of the game…

“I think the substitutions we made they gave us the energy we needed going forward. We got a goal from a very good move, individually, putting them under pressure but after that I think the concentration levels went down and we allowed them to get the second goal.”

Chiefs will now turn their attention to the MTN8 quarter-final against Cape Town City on Sunday.