Nabi feels Chiefs were denied a penalty in Soweto Derby defeat

Kaizer Chiefs coach Nasreddine Nabi strongly believes his troops were denied a penalty in their Soweto Derby defeat against Orlando Pirates on Saturday afternoon at a sold-out FNB Stadium in Soweto.

Glody Lilepo’s opener for Chiefs was ultimately in vain as Pirates rallied with a first-half goal from Evidence Makgopa and a second-half winner by Relebohile Mofokeng to claim a 2-1 victory in the Betway Premiership.

This marked Nabi’s second derby defeat as Pirates completed a league double over their rivals. The result leaves Chiefs outside the top eight, while Pirates narrowed the gap on Mamelodi Sundowns to nine points.

Nabi is of the view that referee Eugene Mdluli should have awarded Chiefs an early penalty, which could have put them 2-0 up, after Bucs defender Mbekezeli Mbokazi appeared to foul Mduduzi Shabalala in the box in the first half.

The Amakhosi coach also expressed his disappointment with his team’s failure to capitalise on opportunities, lamenting their inability to “kill off” the game.

“It’s a game that we feel that we shouldn’t have lost when you look at the performances of the two teams,” Nabi told the media at FNB Stadium.

“We started the game very well, and we feel that we had the opportunities to kill the game, but unfortunately, we didn’t take our opportunities to kill the game when we had our best moments.

“The referee didn’t give us the decision because we feel there was a penalty not given when we were leading 1-0.”

“Unfortunately, we conceded goals after losing possession due to technical mistakes. That’s the reality of football. When we are in our best moments and have the opportunity to kill the game, we must take it and even break the opponents’ confidence,” concluded Nabi.