Kaizer Chiefs co-coach Cedric Kaze shied away from faulting the club’s youngsters who were given a starting berth in the defeat to Chippa United in their last Betway Premiership encounter of the campaign.
Amakhosi ended the 2025/26 Betway Premiership season on a somewhat disappointing note after succumbing to a narrow 1-0 loss to the Chilli Boys at the Moses Mabhida stadium in Durban on Saturday afternoon.
The Glamour Boys dished out delightful attacking football for the majority of the game, but a lapse in concentration saw them fall behind after allowing Justice Figueredo in on goal before setting up Sammy Seabi for a tap-in, which is how the match ended.
The result means that the Naturena-based outfit ended the campaign on 54 points, in third place and with CAF Confederation Cup football for next season bagged.
After fielding a youth-infused line-up including 18-year-old goalkeeper, Takalani Mazhamba – the youngest ‘keeper to debut for Amakhosi in the PSL era, Luke Baartman, Asanele Velebayi and Naledi Hlongwane, Kaze leapt to the youngsters’ defense following the defeat.
Kaze insisted the young four players did not garner enough minutes during the campaign and the club also wanted to give them more top-flight exposure.
“I believe that we started the game well in the front foot,” he told the media in his post-match presser.
“We had a couple of opportunities to put ourselves in a better conditions by scoring , but we couldn’t.
“Sometimes we lacked a little bit of composure, a little bit of decision-making into the final third, into the box, but you know, I understand.
“The youngsters didn’t have a lot of minutes during the season, but as well we want to give them minutes for them to get confidence, to get experience, and to go up as well.
“We were a little bit victims of transition counter-attack and we couldn’t manage well.”
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