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Komphela delighted to at least find one promising aspect of Chiefs' team play

Kaizer Chiefs head coach Steve Komphela shakes hands with his Stellenbosch FC counterpart Steve Barker followign the two sides' Nedbank Cup last 16 encounter at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday March 10 2018. Chiefs won 2-1 to advance to the quarterfinals.
Kaizer Chiefs head coach Steve Komphela shakes hands with his Stellenbosch FC counterpart Steve Barker followign the two sides' Nedbank Cup last 16 encounter at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday March 10 2018. Chiefs won 2-1 to advance to the quarterfinals.
Image: Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix

Kaizer Chiefs' passage to the last 16 of the Nedbank Cup wasn't pretty nor convincing‚ but coach Steve Komphela was delighted to at least find one promising aspect of his team play.

Chiefs beat National First Division outfit Stellenbosch FC 2-1 at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Saturday night to progress to the quarterfinal of the competition they have dominated over the years.

Komphela highlighted his new striking combination of Leonardo Castro and Bernard Parker as 'something he can work on' going forward.

"I think it worked well‚" said Komphela of his decision to leave Ryan Moon on the bench and start with Parker alongside Castro.

"If you look at the second goal it came from Parker. He touched that ball and it went on to Castro to finish.

"As a coach you can even put Parker into ten and have two tens if you want to.

"I thought they coped well and they combined. You could build from that‚ there were certain positives that we can look back at. I thought it worked well."

The two strikers‚ who at times tended to want to fetch the ball from deep‚ linked up well for the second goal in the second stanza‚ the Colombian Castro latching on to Parker's pass to give Chiefs a 2-0 lead with his third goal since joining Amakhosi in January.

Parker was also the supplier of Chiefs first goal‚ his corner kick in the 27th minute headed in by defender Eric Mathoho.

But overall Komphela will be concerned of his team making heavy weather of their win in the match.

Amakhosi had possession and acres of space to bury their Cape Town opponents‚ but lack of imagination up front saw them finishing the match under immense pressure having allowed the visitors to reduce the score line to 2-1 towards the end.

Parker‚ Siphiwe Tshabalala‚ Joseph Molangoane and perennial misser of easy sitters Pule Ekstein all had opportunities to score for Chiefs but wasted them.

Chiefs will have to be better on the front foot at the FNB Stadium on Saturday when they entertain AmaZulu FC in a league encounter.

With their chances of winning the league now very remote after their 3-1 drubbing by archrivals Orlando Pirates last weekend‚ Komphela's men cannot afford another slip up.

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