Kaze says Sekhukhune United played with fear in MTN8 defeat by Orlando Pirates

Sekhukhune United head coach Cedric Kaze said his side lacked belief during the first half of their 1-0 MTN8 semi-final first-leg defeat by Orlando Pirates on Saturday afternoon.

The Buccaneers secured a narrow advantage at the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium after scoring at the end of the opening period. Sekhukhune United improved after the break, but Kaze admitted his players had been affected by fear in the first half.

“I believe that the first half was not what we would’ve hoped, we played with a little bit of fear. We concede a goal at very bad moment at the end of the first half, but in the second half we came back with the better intentions, mindset,” Kaze told SuperSport after the game.

The former Kaizer Chiefs co-coach said Sekhukhune United now needed to improve their execution in the final third if they were to overturn the deficit in the second leg.

“But we need to work more on our last third entries and have more composure, movements and better technical accuracies but I’m hoping we will get better.

Kaze believes the performance after half-time offers his team encouragement ahead of the return fixture, which will take place at Orlando Pirates’ home ground next weekend.

“I feel like we had a better second half, we were the better team in the second half, we need to bring that into the next game and go in with a positive mindset from the beginning, trust our plan and I hope and pretty sure we will do better.”

The coach wants his players to approach the second leg with greater confidence and a clear commitment to the plan, having seen them respond positively after the interval in the opening match.

However, before the MTN8 semi-final is decided, Sekhukhune United and Orlando Pirates will meet again in the league on Tuesday night. That match will be played at the same stadium, giving both sides another meeting before the return leg.

Orlando Pirates will take a one-goal lead into the second match of the cup tie, while Sekhukhune United must score if they are to keep their hopes of reaching the MTN8 final alive. Kaze’s side will also be seeking a stronger start after conceding at a damaging point in the first game.

The result leaves Orlando Pirates in control of the semi-final after the first leg, but Kaze’s assessment was that the gap between the teams was not decisive. He highlighted Sekhukhune United’s second-half display as the standard they must reproduce when the teams meet again.

Their immediate focus, though, will be the league encounter on Tuesday before attention turns back to the MTN8 and the decisive fixture at Orlando.