Nabi concedes top-3 finish target now just a pipe dream

Kaizer Chiefs coach Nasreddine Nabi has conceded that the dream of finishing in the top three this season is far-fetched, given the rate at which they are dropping points.

Chiefs surrendered their lead to draw 1-1 with TS Galaxy at Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday, extending their winless run to four games in the Premier Soccer League, while also jeopardising chances of finishing in the top eight, let alone the top three.

“About finishing in the top three, we feel we need to take it game by game. We have to be honest, it’s going to be very difficult [now to achieve that top three dream] because we are losing points and we’ve lost points we probably shouldn’t have lost,” Nabi said.

Wandile Duba had put Amakhosi ahead in the 36th minute, before Mlungisi Mbunjana equalised in the 80th minute, making sure the spoils were shared. Mbunjana reacted swiftly to bundle home a rebound after Bruce Bvuma had saved his teammate, Edmilson Dove’s header from a Galaxy corner-kick.

Dove’s near own-goal incident, that eventually resulted in Galaxy’s leveller, was virtually his first touch after replacing Inacio Miguel, who was substituted due to a calf injury.

Nabi believes Amakhosi are just enduring a spell of bad luck as consistency continues to elude them, saying his troops gave their all against Galaxy. The Tunisian hopes luck will return at some point.

“The players today [on Saturday] did everything they could to get a good result. I feel we are going through a moment of, I’d say, bad luck because of the lack of results. But we’re going to hang in there, everyone has to push more and work harder. We’re pretty sure that luck is going to come back,” Nabi said.

Chiefs’ next game is against Mamelodi Sundowns in the Nedbank Cup semifinals at Loftus Versveld on Sunday (6.30pm).

Amakhosi, who are already soldiering on without Rushwin Dortley, after he underwent knee surgery a few weeks ago, could also be forced to do it without his twin centre-back Miguel in their next coming games.

Dortley and Miguel started the season as Chiefs’ first-choice centre-back pairing … to also lose the latter now would be a huge blow.

“About Miguel, we will wait and see how he’s doing and get the thoughts of our medical staff to see if he will be available in the next game,” Nabi said.