A brace from Leonardo Castro and a solitary strike from Philani Zulu handed Chiefs a 3-0 vcitory in the first leg of their CAF Confederation Cup first-round tie.
“You had two-and-a-half days a game and travelled from Nelspruit to Johannesburg and then from Johannesburg to Durban, of course a professional player should be able to handle it but with the circumstances we are in at the moment, I think it was a very clear pragmatic structured game and in the end with the deserved three goals," Middendorp told SuperSport TV.
“It did look a little bit flat, not really in the right direction where you could have expected but then you see players with the quality of Lebo, Leo Castro and Excellent. Its fine.
“He is not a dribbler or entertainer, he is a scorer and I think he deserves every second support from all of us and with a result I think we have a good base going into the next game."
The Amakhosi will now travel to Madagascar next week for the return leg and Middendorp was delighted to see Zulu get through 90 minutes.
“Some of the players didn’t get a lot of game time, like Philani Zulu. I think he didn’t play for the last two months and now he has to go in for 90 minutes two games. There’s a little bit of a handicapped same with Manyama," he added.
“I took him a little bit back just to not give him this little bit of running pressure just to be a little bit clever and handle this game but they did very well and I’m absolutely delighted with the team."