The Amakhosi boss rued their loss to the Clever Boys, saying he will take the blame if it’s his fault
Kaizer Chiefs coach Ernst Middendorp has lamented their 1-0 loss to Bidvest Wits, calling it a disaster and singled out striker Samir Nurkovic’s miss as unacceptable.
The Soweto giants failed to stretch their lead at the but they breathed a sigh of relief when the second-placed Mamelodi Sundowns lost to Baroka on Sunday evening by the same margin.
On the other hand, his counterpart Gavin Hunt said they had an excellent display in the opening half and that their mission is to finish well.
"I don't agree, it was not a disappointing game, the mentality, it's not the greatest football but what we're talking about is a disaster result," Middendorp told SuperSport TV.
"If you see the 90 minutes, the effort brought in by the players, by the team...
"I don't know actually, of course, that one will be again the coach is in charge but the number of possibilities...Good, if it has to be it's my fault, I take it.
"But I think the mentality of the players was very good, they were really fighting the full 98 minutes.
"The chances were there to make it 1-0, 2-0, 3-0 and of course, that's a bit of...I don't know how, at the end of the day, through the centre [Samir Nurkovic missing a sitter], that's of course something we have to face, not really acceptable.
"But we have to, two games to go of course we have to hope something will come out of the games, starting already to see what is happening at 6 o'clock, what will happen in the next two games.
"I personally hope we can put the players into the right mentality towards the next game, in particular, Chippa [United] on the second we will try again, we will go again all out, try to score, try to win this game, it depends now on Sundowns."
On his assessment of the 90 minutes, the four-time PSL winner expressed delight for his striker Bienvenu Eva Nga, saying their failure to score has been the story of their campaign.
"I thought the first-half we were excellent, I was really disappointed when we came to half-time, we could've turned it in, we had some good opportunities in the first-half and once you start turning the ball over in the second half, that's when they're getting in the game you know," Hunt told SuperSport TV.
"Nurkovic had a big chance in the end there, they should make it 1-0 but it's a story of our season we're not scoring and if you score, then you're making it easy for yourselves, which we didn't do.
"It turned for us a little bit today we got the ball in the end but I mean you know we could've been 1-0 down but we could've been one or two [up] in the first-half, that has been a story of our season. Maybe it is a bit too late but be that as it may, it is what it is I'm happy for the boy [ Eva Nga].
“I said to the guys 'you got to respect the game and play properly', people can say what they want, ah we're playing for nothing but we're playing for our pride, we want to finish well.”