Benni not surprised by Chiefs' defensive tactics

Cape Town - Cape Town City head coach Benni McCarthy was not at all surprised with the way his counterpart, Steve Komphela, ordered his Kaizer Chiefs side to play.

The Citizen's suffered their first defeat of the season as over 25 000 people gathered at Cape Town Stadium for Wednesday night's Absa Premiership clash.

Veteran Siphiwe Tshabalala put Amakhosi ahead in the opening minutes of the second half as his strike was too strong for Sage Stephens to palm away at the near post.

The second and final goal of the game came from 17-year-old Wiseman Meyiwa which ended McCarthy's unbeaten streak of five matches in his maiden season as coach.

Amakhosi put in a disciplined performance for 90 minutes as their counter-attacking approach caught City off guard, while also frustrating McCarthy's charges in front of goal.

McCarthy felt losing Teko Modise through injury in the first half changed the dynamics of the game.

"When you're under that much pressure and people are on your case, of course you need to take a different approach," McCarthy said of Amakhosi's defensive tactics.

"They’ve (Chiefs) clearly watched us because they had a lot of free time too themselves, while we were busy fighting it out (competing in the MTN8), so I think they had enough time to see where they could be and where things could go in their favour.

"Losing Teko (Modise), now you lose the one player that can really unlock that defence of theirs even though they're sitting back because he would have just (played), in those little pockets, that’s where I wanted him to be playing so he can slot those little balls in and when you lose him your whole dynamics change."

The 39-year-old mentor also praised the experienced Itumeleng Khune, who claimed the man-of-the-match accolade.

Khune has not been in action since last month after recovering from severe infection which kept him out for both club and country.

"Khune! Massive difference in their side, when you have such a goalkeeper then life is a bit easier," McCarthy added.

City's next opponents are Orlando Pirates on Tuesday, September 19 while the Glamour Boys face champions Bidvest Wits on Saturday, September 16.