Durban - Kaizer Chiefs coach Arthur Zwane says Yusuf Maart’s wonder goal in their Soweto Derby win over Orlando Pirates is evidencde of the player’s tactical awareness.
Maart scored the only goal of the match as Chiefs edged arch rivals Pirates 1-0 at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg on Saturday afternoon.
Maart stunned everyone when he fired a shot from his own half to beat a retreating Pirates goalkeeper Siyabonga Mpontshane, who was way off his line, to hand Amakhosi their fourth consecutive victory over Pirates, a first in the Premier Soccer League era.
Zwane, who played in the Soweto Derby for both Chiefs and Pirates in his heyday, heaped praise on his star midfielder for granting him his first derby victory as coach at the first time of asking.
"The goal was a special goal for Yusuf in his first derby as well, it was a special goal for me as well because I wanted to win the derby," he told members of the media.
"That kind of goal shows tactical awareness of the player because not many players will see that the goalkeeper is off the line and he took a chance and it benefited us so credit to him for giving me a good start to derbies."
Yusuf Maart should just take the goal of the season now. 👌![CDATA[]]>🏾 pic.twitter.com/ZnhpKyNToz
Zwane also made a surprising inclusion to his starting 11 as Nkosingiphile Ngcobo made his third start of the season and influenced proceedings on a large scale.
The 49-year-old mentor Zwane revealed that he and his technical team planned to benefit from the absence of Miguel Timm, who was suspended for Pirates.
"We prepared Mshini reasonably well for his role today. We knew Timm was out and he has given Pirates really good balance in the middle because he can fight for the ball and he can also play,“ Zwane said.
"So whoever they were gonna play between Makaringe or Goodman was always going play to our advantage, and that's why we brought in Mshini because we knew he was going to be operating behind the midfield and they didn't have that strength in the middle."