Kaizer Chiefs co-coach Cedric Kaze has called for calmness amid their recent poor run of form.
Chiefs suffered their fourth successive defeat, across all competitions, when they were stunned 1-0 by Richards Bay at Richards Bay Stadium on Tuesday night. Thulani Gumede’s 69th minute goal is what sank Amakhosi, dimming their hopes of finishing in the top three.
“It’s a disappointing result, it’s a bad moment, but we need to keep our heads straight and be calm and work very hard to get back to our good days,” Kaze said.
“It’s a difficult time. Sometimes a team goes through something like this and that’s where we need to stay calm and find solutions because if we start panicking, things can get worse.”
Centre-back Inacio Miguel sustained an injury during warm ups, forcing him to be replaced by Bradley Cross in the starting XI, which meant Chiefs had to soldier on with a new back-four who had not played together before, cross partnered with fellow leftie Aden McCarthy at the heart of defence.
At left back Nkanyiso Shinga made his long-awaited Chiefs debut before he was stretchered off after suffering a self-inflicted injury around the 80th minute, leaving Chiefs to finish the game with 10 men as they had exhausted their substitutions. Dillan Solomons, who has been in and out of the team, started at right back.
“To lose Miguel in the warm up, with Zitha [Kwinika] suspended, we had to change the whole defence and that wasn’t ideal. I think that cost us the game,” Kaze said.
Sibongiseni Mthethwa unexpectedly returned to the Chiefs starting XI to skipper the side, having recently recovered from a medium-term injury that had sidelined him since November last year.
Chiefs’ next game in the league is against Durban City at FNB Stadium on March 15.
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