Kaizer Chiefs coach Arthur Zwane felt his side’s 2-1 victory over Royal AM was a huge confidence booster for his side are they prepare to face arch-rivals Orlando Pirates in the semi-finals of the Nedbank Cup.

The Soweto giants booked their place in the last four of the competition after they edged out Thwihli Thwahla at the Chatsworth Stadium through an own goal by Thabo Matlaba and a late penalty by Yusuf Maart.

Amakhosi have since been drawn against the Buccaneers for the headline semi-final clash following the conclusion of the draw in Chatsworth.

Zwane believes that this triumph has given them the confidence they need heading into their DStv Premiership clash against Sekhukhune United at the Peter Mokaba Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

“I think we started brightly we controlled the space, ‘Mangethe’ [Samkelo] in the middle gave us that edge as well in terms of controlling and dictating terms in the middle,” Zwane told SuperSport TV.

“Because they are a playing team, once you give them time and space in the middle then they can hurt you at any given time. So we had to control that first and make sure that we wait for the right moment to utilise the space also that is created by their full-backs when they go forward.

“So I think for the better part of the game we managed to do that, we controlled them. But obviously, lapse of concentration from deadball situations we gave them hope,” he continued.

“From again taking things lightly. But I think that was more like a wake up call, we looked like we can get a goal at any given time and as I said if you put them under pressure all the time, it doesn’t matter how you score goals.

“As long as you put the opposition defenders under pressure they are bound to make mistakes. You play those diagonal balls, force them to defend facing their own goals, at any given time you can get a goal or you get a corner.”

He added: “So it worked for us, then we managed to push them now on the back foot, just to kill the game off, it wasn’t to be but I don’t think we created enough clear-cut chances today to make their lives difficult.

“I think we could have done better in terms of creating chances but the effort today was more about fighting rather than go out there and play silky football.

“All we wanted was to go through to the semi-finals and we’ll find our way going forward and see how we can work on ourselves, just to boost the confidence, so it the win we needed.”

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