Orlando Pirates coach Milutin Sredojevic felt that his side deserved to advance to the final following their impressive showing against Kaizer Chiefs in the Telkom Knockout.

The Buccaneers have moved one step closer to ending their four-year trophy drought after beating rivals Chiefs 2-1 in the semi-final on Saturday through goals from Justin Shonga and Thembinkosi Lorch.

Sredojevic credits his players for sticking to his game plan against a resilient Amakhosi outfit.

‘Absolute credit to the players that they have sticked to the plan. They applied themselves. It was not easy, we were playing against a very competitive Kaizer Chiefs that they were threatening us with [Godfrey] Walusimbi and ‘Rama’ on the full-backs,’ Sredojevic told SuperSport TV after the game.

‘They were coming in numbers in front of our defence trying to endanger us. We have been patient especially in the second half. We had opened very well, exactly where we planned in spaces behind the full-backs.

‘The ball came from [Vincent] Pule and we scored that goal. Then we disrespected one ball and [Leonardo] Castro scored from that Khama Billiat pass.

‘In the second half we were looking for two aspects, one was to be patient in buildups and in defending to try to hold and see if we can find holes, and exactly that happened six minutes before time Shonga scored the goal and we won the game.

‘In the last heat of the game we could have conceded. It was a thrilling match, credit to the technical team. I believe we deserve to go to the final.’

The Pirates mentor went on to explain the reason behind his decision to bring on Augustine Mulenga to replace Thabiso Kutumela in the second half.

‘I share everything I do with coach Rhulani. Our thinking was that we put an extra player that can pull on the shoulders off [to] Shonga so that he can express himself. Exactly that happened,’ he explained.