Zwane hails Saile, happy for Du Preez after Chiefs win

Kaizer Chiefs had to sweat to get past a 10-men Maritzburg in the Nedbank Cup and coach Arthur Zwane hailed his strikers Christian Saile and Ashely Du Preez for their goals in the 2-0 win.

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The duo had been a constant threat to the Maritzburg defence but only scored in extra time to seal the win.

Both had good chances in the first 90 minutes but could not beat King Ndlovu who could have easily been the Man-of-the-Match on the night at Harry Gwala Stadium on Friday night. It was however Chiefs defender Siyabonga Ngezana who was picked as the best player of the night.

Saile was starting for the first time having made two appearances from the bench before. He started because Caleb Bimenyimana is out with an injury.

Du Preez has been a regular in Zwane’s team since the start of the season but has been unable to score as much as he would have probably wished.

In fact, the former Stellenbosch FC man missed some chances that looked easier to score than miss. But on Friday, his hard work was finally rewarded.

“Christian is a soldier of note, and we expect more from him,” said Zwane after the match.

“He’s got this never-say-die attitude about him, and that’s what we want.

“So, I always remind him that you create your own luck and you keep on working hard. You’ll always be rewarded, and he was rewarded as he scored.”

“I think for any striker, it’s always good when you score goals. The good thing is that both of our strikers scored,” said Zwane.

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On Du Preez, Zwane said: “I’m happy for Ashley. I wanted to see him score and that will boost his confidence.

“And I think he also played very well. He was chasing, on and off the ball, he did tremendously well, we scored two goals and we are happy.”

Zwane will however hope his strikers increase their conversion rate as they could have easily won the match 5-0 had they been lethal enough.

And failing to punish a side who played over 50 minutes with 10 players should be a worry for Zwane.