My Kaizer Chiefs mandate still to win trophies - Arthur Zwane

The statement comes in the wake of confirmation that Amakhosi will end yet another season without silverware after they were eliminated from the semifinals of the Nedbank Cup by rivals Orlando Pirates.

Having forced the match into extra-time when midfielder Yusuf Maart cancelled out striker Kermit Erasmus’ opener, it was defender Sandile Mthethwa who sent the Buccaneers into the final on 27 May.

Zwane insists objectives haven’t changed.

"Winning cups with Kaizer Chiefs is my mandate. As much as we were in a season where we wanted to get things right first, bring in the right players, find the right way of playing and also get the right chemistry within the team," he said.

The former Chiefs attacking midfielder is in his first season at the club and believes it was all a big learning curve.

Amakhosi haven’t won a cup since May 2015.

"Going to the semifinal of MTN8 gave us hope and we had the opportunity to seal again here at FNB but ended up playing 1-1. Even with this game, it's more or less the same, semifinal, we had the opportunity to kill the game off early and it wasn't to be. As I said, I believe going forward, we will take it one step closer and we will learn from this one," the coach explained.

There’s mostly been a mixed reaction to Zwane’s maiden year at Chiefs, and the coach was surprised with one perspective he’s made some progress.

"Unfortunately, you are the only one that sees it as a solid season. I think a lot of people obviously because of the demands of playing for this team and the expectations, will see us as failures."

Zwane adds the numbers will back his view that his tenure shows a lot more improvement than what his predecessors over the last three years were able to achieve at Chiefs.

"We've done a lot of things good when you compare to where we come from. You know, changing the squad, it was never going to be easy anyway. Hence I said, I'm very proud of the players, we are only left with two games. When you look at the stats, they always say stats don't lie. Go and check the stats of Kaizer Chiefs' last three seasons then you will see that there's a lot of improvement in this squad compared to the previous squads that we have assembled."