Highlands Park coach Allan Freese believes his side were unlucky to concede a penalty following their 1-0 defeat against Kaizer Chiefs at the Makhulong Stadium on Wednesday.

The Lions of the North conceded a penalty in the 56th minute of the match after Auguston Leonard pulled down William Twala however, replays suggest that the foul was committed outside the box.

Amakhosi midfielder George Lebese made no mistake from the spot-kick to hand Chiefs the lead and securing their first victory in the 2016-17 Absa Premiership campaign.

The 60-year-old coach believes his side were unlucky on the day after conceding their fourth penalty in two games.

‘Yeah, it was unlucky for that today. But how were they beating us now? Two games, how many penalties? So let’s leave it that,’ Freese said.

Freese says his side created enough chances and could not capitalise on their opportunities but he is confident that the Lions of the North will come back from this defeat.

‘They started better in the second half, but I thought we also had opportunities. Not clear-cut no, but we did have opportunities to do something, we didn’t in the end.

‘It’s back to the drawing board as they say. We still got another game on Saturday (against Polokwane City). It’s still early in the league, so yeah, the boys tried. We will come back again.’

Highlands Park travel to the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium when they face Polokwane City in the Absa Premiership on Saturday.

Kick-off is scheduled to get underway at 15:00.