Siphiwe Tshabalala has come in defence of goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune who came under lot of criticism after the 107th minute long range strike from Oupa Manyisa which handed Orlando Pirates the first trophy of the season.

‘Shabba’ defended his teammate speaking to kaizerchiefs.com; “We came here to play as a team, when we win we do that as a team and when we lose it is the same. To single out one player is not fair.

“We will go back to training on Monday and make sure we rectify our mistakes ahead of our trip to Cape Town. It will be important for us to bounce back as soon as possible. We cannot afford to drop our heads as disappointing as it was to lose against Pirates.”

Shabba who made way for debutant, Willard Katsande in the 81st minute felt that the game was a balanced one, “It was a pretty balanced game. We did have one or two opportunities to win it but then as they say; if you do not take your opportunities in football you get punished.

“I also felt there was a gap between our strike force and the midfield. We just have to put this game behind us and focus on the league where we have had a good start. We have Ajax coming up before we can start thinking about Orlando Pirates again next Saturday,” added Tshabalala.