Kaizer Chiefs coach Fernando da Cruz blamed poor officiating and lack of experience from his young team for the defeat against Orlando Pirates.

Amakhosi suffered a 2-1 loss to the Buccaneers in a Betway Premiership match at the FNB Stadium in Soweto on Saturday.

Chiefs dominateed ball possession in the first half and created several opportunities, enough chances to take a commanding lead before the break.

However, their failure to convert those opportunities allowed Pirates to remain in the game before Moremi struck the winner in the 55th minute.

‘They created nothing’

Speaking after the game, Da Cruz took issue with Pirates’ first goal, which was scored by Yanela Mbuthuma.

Mbuthuma opened the scoring for Pirates in the 24th minute, but TV replays showed that there was a hint of offside from the Bucs striker.

“The analysis is very easy: in the first half we must kill this game, normally two-three zero because the goal of Pirates we still have to review; it was offside and maybe there’s a red card, so if we score two or three goals we kill this game,” said Da Cruz.

“And in the second half, in the last 20 minutes, with our young players, you have a lack of experience, and they don’t create chances because they have a lack of experience; we give them more chances to score more goals.

“They created nothing; we offered them the offensive transition.”

Da Cruz refuses to concede defeat in title race

Despite the loss, their first of the season, a Cruz was pleased with how his young team performed in the Soweto derby.

“I’m very happy about the team because we’re a young team; we missed five players- five injured players, but we played well today (Saturday). I want to congratulate the players; in the last 20 minutes we were tired, but I want to congratulate the players one more time,” commented Da Cruz.

Despite the Soweto derby setback, Da Cruz refused to throw in the towel in the Betway Premiership title race.

“I will say that it is more difficult today (Saturday) after this game, but the PSL is a long journey, so 21 fixtures remain. But when we recover our injured players, because we have been unlucky since the start of the season, we will have more consistency in our performance. We had a lot of draws this season, but we deserved to win this game; because of our lack of experience, we didn’t win it,” concluded Da Cruz.