CHIPPA United coach Ernst Middendorp bemoaned his side's poor defending against University of Pretoria on Tuesday night.
CHIPPA United coach Ernst Middendorp bemoaned his side's poor defending against University of Pretoria on Tuesday night.
Middendorp's men were beaten 2-1 by AmaTuks - a performance characterised by disorganisation - under the watchful eye of their fickle chairman, Chippa Mpengesi.
United's most trusted defender Christopher Komane was nowhere near his best and goalkeeper Mbongeni Mzimela was seriously lacking confidence as he made errors, most of which went unpunished.
"We could have done better in defence with the first and second goal that we conceded. We made a number of mistakes, but anyway it happens," said Middendorp, who was in charge of United for the first time since his appointment last month.
"We started slow and did not do what we were doing in the last five weeks at training. We lost the game, that's the story. We only started playing and creating chances after we conceded the first goal. We will have a chat about what happened here."
The Chilli Boyz were not much of a threat up front, although they did try hard to get an equaliser in the last 10 minutes.
They were clearly missing striker David Zulu, who left to join Kaizer Chiefs last month.
The man seen as Zulu's replacement, Edward Manqele, was an unused substitute and Middendorp did not want to say when he plans to give the former Mamelodi Sundowns striker a run.
"Did he [Manqele] play? Why must I comment on him if he didn't play? I have worked with him since January and I am happy with him.
"We had chances and it could have been a different result in the end," said the German coach.