Kaizer Chiefs coach Nasreddine Nabi has weighed in on the debuts of new signings Thabo Cele and Glody Makabi Lilepo and the late penalty call from referee Masixole Bambiso that led to his team’s downfall in the Soweto derby against Orlando Pirates at FNB Stadium on Saturday. 

Amakhosi suffered a slender 1-0 defeat at the hands of their fierce rivals Pirates after Patrick Maswanganyi converted a last-minute penalty to keep his team within touching distance of the title race with Mamelodi Sundowns.

While the Naturena-based side might have lost the bragging rights, they got to see their recruits in action for the first time after luring them from Europe. The Tunisian mentor has revealed what he makes of their first match in black and gold.

“I believe that they showed some good quality for the time that they were on the field, but you have to understand that they only trained for four days with long trips from Europe, and they were not training regularly before they came,” said Nabi through translator Cedric Kaze.

“But we saw that there’s quality even with those few minutes they played and for that, we are happy with the players that we signed. We take this opportunity to thank the management as well for completing these signings.” 

Furthermore, the 59-year-old tactician hailed Pule Mmodi’s resilience and impressive performance after the former Golden Arrows man squandered a chance to give Chiefs the lead in the early exchanges of the heavyweight clash.

“It’s true that Mmodi missed an opportunity but that’s part of the game. We need to congratulate him because after that his mentality was good, he made the right runs and helped the team defensively and offensively. He was one of the best players on the pitch,” Nabi added.

“The opportunity that he missed didn’t put him down and that’s part of football, we need to encourage him. About the penalty, I’m not going to say anything because I don’t believe that it’s a penalty – I don’t want to talk about referees.”

Meanwhile, the ex-AS FAR coach initially refused to be drawn into talking about the official regarding the penalty but is adamant that the man in the middle made a wrong call. Nabi insists that Chiefs will return to their former glory under his watchful eye.

“Honestly for the penalty, my position didn’t give me a good vision for me to decide but all my staff and video confirmed it [was not a penalty]. The Pirates striker went to the corner and the referee gave an advantage, he didn’t whistle and now you can’t overturn the foul and penalty,” he continued.

“But I don’t want excuses, I lost – okay we lost this game, it’s a derby it’s bad it’s not good but it’s only three points. We lost three points, but we have another opportunity, a minimum of one derby this season. I’m very happy with the progress of my team and the project, the mentality in the team.

“We want positivity, Kaizer Chiefs will come back, I promised the fans. We lost the game, but we feel that there were good things about the teams today.”