The impact made by the substitutes got much praise from Kaizer Chiefs co-head coach Khalil Ben Youseff after Amakhosi ended their three-match winless streak in the Betway Premiership with a 1-0 win over Durban City at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Friday.
The win moved Chiefs to third spot and within two points of leaders and defending champions Mamelodi Sundowns who will host a red-hot Orlando Pirates in Pretoria in a blockbuster fixture on Saturday.
Portuguese striker Flavio Silva benefited from a good cross from fellow substitute Gaston Sirino to head in the winner for Chiefs, two minutes from time in a game where there were few clear-cut chances created by either side.
It was Silva’s second goal and winner for Chiefs this season as he did the same when he scored in a 1-0 victory over Lamontville Golden Arrows, the last time Chiefs won a league match before their struggles.
“We finished (substitutions) with Silva as striker in the last 15 minutes. Congratulations to the impact players coming off the bench. They gave us what we needed.
“It was a cross from Sirino and Silva scored. But congratulations to all the players for their efforts,” said Youseff.
The win comes as a huge relief for Youseff and his counterpart on the Chiefs bench Cedric Kaze who were yet to win a league match after the departure of former Chiefs head coach Nasreddine Nabi.
Nabi’s last match was a 3-1 loss to Sekhukhune United before Chiefs drew the last two league matches against Marumo Gallants and AmaZulu FC that were handled by the duo.
“We expected this game to be tough for us,” explained Youseff on why they struggled to create many clear scoring chances.
“After qualifying for the group stage (Caf Confederation Cup), we know the mentality here in South Africa. It’s difficult to keep the same mentality, we see it with other teams.
“They played in cup games, for example Stellenbosch yesterday (Wednesday) they lost 4-0 against Marumo Gallants.
“For us the most important thing is winning the game, the performance will come later. If you remember last year, when we started the season, we had a lot of good performances but bad results.
“Now we’re thinking about results and winning the game. We’re happy that the performance is coming with winning, but for us the first priority is winning the games.”
Youseff was also happy with striker Silva, who seems to be enjoying coming on as a substitute and scoring winners for Chiefs at Mabhida Stadium.
Silva has been in and out of the Chiefs line-up because of niggling injuries but Youseff believes once he’s fully fit he’s going to play a crucial role for Amakhosi this season.
“For us we need him to score, he’s a striker,” said Youseff.
“We have Silva, we have (Wandile) Duba, we have (Tashreeq) Morris and (Etiosa) Ighodaro. All of them fight for one position.
“I think the most important thing for the strikers is that their life is about scoring goals. I’m so happy for Silva. Now it’s the second game he’s coming from the bench and scoring (a winner).
“After the Golden Arrows game he got an injury, so he was out. Now he’s back with us, even in our last game he got an injury before the game and wasn’t available for us for the cup game.
“He will start step by step, but the most important thing is not whether he starts or not but what’s most important is that he scores.”