‘Kaizer Chiefs went to sleep a little bit' - Zwane details Amakhosi's Nedbank Cup struggle against 10-man Maritzburg United

• Chiefs beat Maritzburg to reach last 16
• But they needed extra minutes to win
• Zwane explains why they struggled

WHAT HAPPENED? Chiefs needed more minutes to progress to the Nedbank Cup last 16 after two extra time goals earned them victory over Maritzburg on Friday. Christian Saile Bassomboli and Ashley du Preez were on target to save the Soweto giants from possible embarrassment at Harry Gwala Stadium.

It was a difficult evening for the Soweto giants who were playing against opponents trying to cover being short.

Maritzburg played 52 minutes of regulation time plus 30 minutes of extra time with a numerical disadvantage following a red card to captain Travis Graham.

But Amakhosi struggled to take advantage of the situation and were stretched to the end.

WHAT ZWANE SAID: “First half I think we were on top of them. Then second-half obviously now they've got a red card. It's always difficult to play against a team that's got a red card,” Zwane told SuperSport TV.

“Obviously they'll form that block, they'll always wait for the right moment to attack you and that is what we said to the guys, we said, ‘They gonna be pumping the balls to [Kwame] Peprah, because he's strong, physically he's very good at holding the ball and as soon as he holds the ball, we allow him to hold the ball and then the rest will join.’

“And I think the young man, number 20 then gave us a problem because exactly what we said. If you look at the three chances that they got anything could have happened.

“We went to sleep a little bit because we thought now we're on top of them but we were not playing the ball in the right areas to hurt them and until Happy [Mashiane] did the right thing, he played a couple of those balls that we dangerous inside the box and now we needed numbers to flood the box.”

THE BIGGER PICTURE: It was the second straight game for Chiefs to play against 10 men.

Friday’s match further exposed Zwane’s game management capabilities after they played 34 minutes with an extra man in their last Premier Soccer League game against TS Galaxy.

The Rockets went on to put up a resilient show and held the Soweto giants to a 0-0 draw. Now, Maritzburg almost got away while numerically incapacitated.

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WHAT NEXT FOR CHIEFS? Chiefs will wait for the Nedbank Cup draw to learn their last 16 opponents. For now, they revert attention to PSL business as they host Golden Arrows on February 19.