What could have been a black and white weekend was transformed for us into one of celebration and triumph. For this the players and the fans deserve all the praise in the world as the two combined to ultimately bring us our first league victory over pirates in almost two years. The last time we managed a victory over them was in 2003 and that was also a very close game.

I found Saturday’s game to be highly entertaining and I felt that both teams played extremely well and neither shied away from attacking. The action was end-to-end stuff and the ball did not get stuck in midfield, it moved from our goal to theirs in quick time. The football that was played on Sunday demonstrated that South African soccer is capable of putting on a soccer display to be proud of.

If we analyze our teams performance I think that from the back to the front we were well disciplined and every one stuck to their job, with ruthless efficiency and accuracy. The week that passed was very tough on Jimmy Tau for obvious reasons and he was under immense pressure in the days leading up to the game.

Before our game against Classic on Wednesday I had a talk with Jimmy and I could see his mind was at the FNB Stadium already and his thoughts were far from Rustenburg. One had to be understanding of the situation he was in, it was in his best interest that he was kept ready for the derby. I don’t think there can be anyone who could fault his performance on Saturday he cam through not with a distinction but I feel that performance was worthy of an MBA.

When you approach a big game like Saturday’s both sides them and us try to find out information on the opposition, if they have any injuries or other surprises that might be thrown on us. For our part we held Arthur Zwane close to our chest, he passed a fitness test late on Monday and was declared fit by the medical team. He than began full training on Tuesday and he was included early on into the planning for Saturday’s big game. Arthur’s inclusion surprised many including the chairman who was shocked when he turned up at our base in the Magaliesburg and saw Arthur preparing for the game.

Other notable performers were our two goals scorers David Obua and Gert Schalkwyk; Gert has been playing well recently and has deserved the acclaim he has received. Gert has to continue working hard and like Jimmy was assisted by the senior defenders Fabian McCarthy and Patrick Mabedi, Gert was well guided by Thabo Mooki and Shoes Moshoeu.

In goal Emile Baron has done well Rowen Fernandez has returned after his injury and is well aware he has a fight on his hands. It bodes well for the team when one player exits another equally capable player takes his place, it is healthy competition and a sign that we have a team with a lot of depth.

We now need to close the chapter on Orlando Pirates until December when we meet them again, our next task is Jomo Cosmos on Sunday in the ¼ of the Coca Cola Cup.

This game as you are all aware will be no walk in the park and we will have a real tough challenge on our hands. All our attention and energy needs to go into this game as we will start preparing in earnest from Tuesday as we descend from cloud nine to planet earth.

To all the supporters who turned out on Saturday as well as those of you who sent various messages of support thank you it was the motivation we needed to spur ourselves on to victory.

Good Bye for now we will meet in this forum again on Wednesday

Yours in victory

Ernst Middendorp


Kaizer Chiefs Head Coach