Despite the frustrating draw against Royal AM, Kaizer Chiefs coach Molefi Ntseki took a lot of positives from the game and one of them was the performance of skillful midfielder George Matlou.
Matlou was handed his first start in the DStv Premiership by Ntseki, replacing former Cape Town City star Mduduzi Mdantsane in the middle of the park.
After the match, Ntseki admitted that the former Moroka Swallows star displayed a solid performance and said he was rewarded for his hard work at training.
“I think his [Matlou] performance has been very good, even from last season, but the unfortunate part is that he had too many injuries,” Ntseki told the media.
“In the pre-season, George was one of the best players we had in camp, but he could not play the preparations matches because he was injured.
“But I think it’s good when you give a player confidence, to say you are rewarded for the hard work you put in training. For the past two matches, he has been coming in as a substitute and he gave us a lot of balance in terms of his tactical understanding of the game.
“Against Royal AM we needed to play with two number eights… the three midfielders with Yusuf [Maart] helping us as six and George was good for that profile in helping us defensively and offensively.
“But overall, he had a very good game, but you could tell in terms of his match fitness, he is still lacking but it was a good run for him to play over 60 minutes.”
Another player that made his first start this season was Colombian striker Jasond Gonzales, who lasted for 66 minutes before making way for Mduduzi Shabalala.
Amakhosi will now shift their focus on their next task in SuperSport United, where they will battle it out for maximum points at the Peter Mokaba Stadium on Wednesday.
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