“I am proud of the players’ performance,” coach Steve Komphela reflected after Kaizer Chiefs reached the Telkom Knockout final having beaten Orlando Pirates 6-5 on penalties.

The coach was both happy and a bit frustrated afterwards. “It was an enjoyable game to watch from a spectator point of view,” he commented. “However, as coaches, both Eric Tinkler and myself were a bit frustrated at times, as the players were sometimes reluctant to a apply the tactical strategy.”

This came to the forefront most when Komphela intervened to discuss tactics with Willard Katsande during the second half: “Willard had to play closer to the two centre-backs.”

It was a game of tactics and, unlike last week, both teams came out fighting and were full of energy.

In last week’s 3-1 Derby loss for the league, it seemed that the Chiefs players lacked a bit of energy, but nothing of that was apparent in Saturday’s game, which was decided on penalties after even extra time failed to produce a goal.

Hendrick ‘Pule’ Ekstein played in his first Derby, pleasing the crowd with some skilful touches on the ball. However, the gifted midfielder struggled somewhat at times to deliver a good final pass, something Komphela admitted.

Top coaches only want the best out of their players and Komphela is clearly one of them, never easy to please. However, the Chiefs mentor also stressed that “this was only Pule’s second match at the highest level this season. We must give him time.”

About the substitution of centre-back Ivan Bukenya at half-time, Komphela made it clear that this wasn’t the result of the yellow card the Ugandan collected in the first half: “He had a slight problem with his hamstring.”

Before the game, the Amakhosi coach also had a difficult decision to make: who should replace the injured Itumeleng Khune in goal?

Komphela opted for Brilliant Khuzwayo: “Brilliant stood up. Brilliant was simply brilliant today!”

As a result of the win, Amakhosi reached the second cup final during Komphela’s still early tenure (five months) as head coach. The opponent will be Mamelodi Sundowns, which beat SuperSport United last night in the other Telkom Knockout semi-final.

“We shall never rest before we win a trophy for this Club,” the coach promised. “We lost in the MTN8 final, so the ultimate hasn’t been achieved as yet. A coach can do so well in terms of winning games, but the question will always be: ‘Did you get something?’ It’s my dream to win a trophy with Kaizer Chiefs.”