‘Clifford was lucky, Chiefs were unlucky, penalty was unlucky’ – Ben Youssef

Kaizer Chiefs were held to a 1-1 draw on Wednesday evening by Marumo Gallants in the Premier Soccer League fixture staged at the FNB Stadium.

Debutant Khanyisa Mayo opened the scoring before poor Gaston Sirino's penalty was saved by Washington Arubi. However, the visitors ensured spoils were shared thanks to a screamer by Jaisen Clifford.

Amakhosi co-caretaker coach Khalil Ben Youssef insists the Glamour Boys deserved three points, but were punished for failing to take their chances.

Chiefs were unlucky!

“I have to say congratulations to the coach of Marumo Gallants and the team. I think the performance they showed this season… they are very good. They are a very good team, there’s a lot of quality inside,” he said after the game.

“I think we deserved to win this game, we managed the game, we were in control of the game all 90 minutes, they didn’t have any situation to score. The only situation was shooting from outside the box – [Clifford] was lucky to score his goal.

“But like I said before, when you play football, you have to score to finish the goal. When you have the opportunity to score the first goal, last five minutes, we got three or four opportunities, we were unlucky- the penalty was unlucky.”

The technical team promises to make fans happy this weekend

On Saturday, the Soweto giants host Angolan outfit Kabuscorp in the second leg of the first Preliminary round of the CAF Confederation Cup. Youssef insists Amakhosi will get a needed result to advance.

“In the second half [against Gallants], we started the game very well, the first 15 minutes we got two opportunities to score. It’s like that in football; if you don’t score, you’re always in a risky situation where you will concede a goal.

“Congratulations to Marumo Gallants for the points and hard luck for us, now finish this game and now think about the next game. Very important game this Saturday for us, we have to think, and I’m sorry for the fans today, and we hope will make them happy Saturday,” he concluded.