Muhsin Ertugral has commended his team for their gallant performance over the weekend against ABSA Premiership leaders Ajax Cape Town and believes that they were unfortunate not to have returned from the Mother City with all three points.

Chiefs were dominant over Ajax who until the meeting with the Amakhosi had not dropped any points after playing four matches in 2008. A committed and firm showing from The Amakhosi almost subjected Ajax to their first defeat in four matches.

Ertugral was lamenting the fact that his charges had ample opportunity including a missed penalty and could well have gained a moral boosting victory over Ajax with a cup clash tie against the Urban Warriors looming in ten days time.

Nevertheless Ertugral has heralded the performance as a step in the right direction and believes that Saturday’s match could be a turning point for his team as they enter the final third of league matches for the season.

Workable plan

Ertugral was pleased by the gutsy performance of his players and was further buoyed by the fact that they did not hold back and went in hard for the 50/50 balls. Ertugral added “the boys showed true commitment and a lot of passion on Saturday. When you play a team who have been brushing aside the opposition the way Ajax have, you know that you need to put up a special performance. The guys did just that and stuck to the game plan and gave Ajax very little space to work with, as a coach when your team does well you have to stand and applaud them and from Saturday’s showing I have to do that”.

Three point desire

Chiefs came close to meeting their three point objective against Ajax and Ertugral feels they should have wrapped up the game before half time, “we had the opportunities to have scored around three goals in the opening quarter and could have well have had the game sealed before half time. Looking at how dominant we were in the match we can carry a lot of things from this game with us into the next one against another team who have been doing well Platinum Stars”.

Strong motivation

With ten games to go Ertugral believes that Chiefs have shown that they can finish the season strongly, as they have both the desire and manpower to push for a top five finish which they believe is truly attainable. As he explained “in a season you need that one match that will work as the inspiration for you and I think that was this Saturday’s match for us. We now looking to push for a top five finish and with a new sense of self motivation and confidence high we know that is very much possible for us”.