Kaizer Chiefs coach Giovanni Solinas has apologised to the Amakhosi faithfuls following their exit from the Telkom Knockout.

The Glamour Boys failed to advance to the final after suffering a 2-1 defeat to Orlando Pirates in the semi-final at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Solinas admits that it is painful to lose a cup game, especially to their Soweto rivals Pirates for a second time this season.

‘It’s very painful to lose the derby. Very disappointed, very painful. We tried, we were fighting. We had the chance also in the last minute, two chances, this is football,’ Solinas told SuperSport TV after the game.

‘Maybe if we had scored two [goals] then it’s a different history. The guys tried to fight until the last second, but the reality is that we lost the derby, this is very painful.

‘I don’t know about the calendar [year] but we lost two derbies [in a row], this I repeat is very painful. I feel the pain. I apologise to our supporters. We tried our best, we tried everything.

‘Football is about the details, the details today were with Pirates. Maybe we score two goals [in the end] and the game is another history. The details is about scoring and not scoring. We score, maybe we equalise and go to extra time and maybe we win on penalties. This is football.’

The Amakhosi mentor went on to explain his reasoning behind substituting Lebogang Manyama for Bernard Parker in the second half.

‘Lebo is coming [back] from injury. It was the first game Lebo played [in a long time], so a high intensity game like the derby it’s not possible to play 90 minutes when you’re coming from a long [term] injury. I knew Lebo was not going to finish the game,’ he added.