Kaizer Chiefs interim coach Arthur Zwane believes his side are “afraid of playing” following their 1-0 defeat to Stellenbosch FC in the DStv Premiership on Saturday evening.

Dean Van Rooyen scored the only goal of the game at the Dani Craven Stadium to hand the Soweto giants their second consecutive defeat in the DStv Premiership.

The defeat leaves Amakhosi in fourth place on the table -level on 39 points with Stellies, who are placed sixth on the log after 26 matches.

“Ja look we conceded from a counter-attack and in our [pre-match] interview I mentioned that that’s their strength. They always want the space behind,” Zwane told SuperSport TV.

“And fortunately it was our corner, I don’t think we were set for a counter-attack and we tried to remind the guys, even before the corner was played because we could see that should they clear the ball in the right areas, they could use their explosive speed because they have very good players going forward.

“But obviously we were forced to make changes that would take the game to them, then we had to take ‘Rama’ [Ramahlwe Mphahlele] out and put on [Kearyn] Baccus to give us that advantage going forward but unfortunately, I think at the moment the boys are afraid of playing.

“We’re encouraging them to play. Look it’s not gonna change overnight, it’s gonna take some time but I think the last 20, if not 25 minutes we just needed that cutting-edge inside the box.

“So much promising, the movement off the ball was getting there, we’ll keep on encouraging them to keep on playing the way we want them to play, feel free and express themselves and when the time is right, they will start banging in goals.”