Head coach Arthur Zwane was left to rue his Kaizer Chiefs side's poor finishing after striker Christian Saile missed several opportunities to score in a 2-1 defeat in the semi-final of the Nedbank Cup at FNB Stadium on Saturday.
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Kermit Erasmus and Yusuf Maart scored in regulation time before Sandile Mthethwa scored an extra-time winner to send The Buccaneers through to the competition's final.
Saile came in for intense criticism from Amakhosi fans after missing a plethora of guilt-edged chances to translate Chiefs' early dominance into goals.
Zwane defended the Congolese striker in his post-match comments while admitting that Chiefs were the better side.
"If you look at the chances that we created today, Saile was in the right place where Ash [Ashley Du Preez] created the space for him to exploit, which he did, but just could not find the target," Zwane said post-match.
"It's something that we can work on.
"It's better than having a player on the field who doesn't know what you expect from him.
"So, he was in the right area, at the right time, unfortunately, he just couldn't convert.
"We cannot now put the blame on him because that's the nature of football, you win some, you lose some.
"That's why we're in this situation where we're knocked out because we did not take those chances.
"But we cannot fault the effort and commitment of the players, they gave their all and I'm proud of them."
Sekhukhune United go up against Stellenbosch FC at the Danie Craven Stadium in the alternate Nedbank Cup semi-final on Sunday for a chance to face Pirates in the final.
Kick-off is at 18:00.
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