Bernard Parker has singled out one Kaizer Chiefs teammate for his heroics in the tough away game that saw his side lose 3-0 to Simba SC, but advance to the CAF Champions League semi-finals with a 4-3 aggregate score.
The veteran midfielder says it was an incredibly tough game to play, and the partisan crowd of ten thousands kept rallying the Tanzanians.
“It was a tough one, very tough. We knew it was going to be this tough and prepared ourselves mentally,” Parker said on the Kaizer Chiefs website.
“They kept pumping balls forward and kept our defence busy and on the backfoot. They forced errors out of our defence and they managed to get goals.
“The crowd was rallying them on and we knew they were going to be more motivated and come out guns blazing. We kept our cool, we kept resisting and we kept fighting under those circumstances.”
Parker admits that there was concern when Simba got the third goal before praising teammate Willard Katsande for a late block on the line.
“When the third goal came in, it was a bit of a worrying factor, but we held on. Well done to Willard Katsande for blocking a shot on the line. The subs who came in also did well,” he added.
Parker also says they can take positives away from this game, and use the experience going forward.
“We can take a lot of positives out of this match going into the next round knowing that whenever we play away, we have to defend with our lives, when we play at home, we have to win and get goals,” the forward explained.
“Overall a good fight from the guys and I think if we had given it 10 percent more, we would have got a goal. We looked dangerous on set plays.
“Every time we got a corner or a free kick, we looked dangerous with a little more belief in ourselves we can go all the way.”
