Amakhosi defender Jimmy Tau has hailed his fellow teammates for the fighting spirit and never say die attitude, which helped bring Chiefs a point out of their crunch PSL game this past Saturday against local rivals Orlando Pirates.

Chiefs were a goal down well into injurytime, before Shaun Bartlett won a piece of the spoils for The Amakhosi fans , with a last gasp header with Chiefs fans almost bringing the stadium down with their celebrations once the ball had found the back of the net.

Tau who played a big part in Chiefs sharing the spoils against his former team was confident right up until the last moments that Chiefs would get something out of the game, “I was never in doubt even before Siyabonga took the corner that we would score, we were too determined not to lose the game” said Jimmy.

The Chiefs defender also feels that Pirates were their own worst enemy, as they sat back and allowed Chiefs the time and space to come at them in the last few minutes of the game.

With the Chiefs number two himself having a crack at goal with a powerful long range effort towards the end of normal time, had it not been for a timely intervention by Pirates captain Lehlohonolo Sema Jimmy could well have been celebrating his first goal against his former team.

Letting his thoughts be known on the final moments of Saturday’s enthralling derby Tau said “I always felt that with Pirates going back wards to defend the lead something would open up for us, and thanks to GOD it did. All we had to do was carry on probing which we did and things worked out for us, we kept on attacking and I do feel that we got a well deserved equalizer”.

At the end of another bout with his former team mates which has seen Jimmy retain an unbeaten run against Pirates since joining Chiefs at the start of the 2005 – 2006 season. The Chiefs defender broke down and sobbed uncontrollably, as he explains the reasons behind the high level of emotion that he is overcome by every time he faces Pirates.

“I can’t hide the fact and I will admit that every occasion that I have played against Pirates in the past year has been very emotional for me, matches against Pirates will continue to be an emotional occasion for me given my history with them and that is just the way it is. As long as I am a Chiefs player the Soweto Derby will be the top of list every year in terms of the one game that I can not lose” were the strong sentiments echoed by Jimmy.

He also says that his game was given a lift by certain sectors of the crowd during Saturday’s game, as he explains, “every time I got the ball I could hear the Pirates fans booing me and that just gave me a lift. It got louder in the second half because I found myself getting more involved in attacking situations, their boo’s helped me fight all the way to ensure we did not lose the game”.

With a welcome break to mark the end of the year as well as the first part of the 2006 – 2007 season beckoning, Jimmy is looking forward to him and his team mates continuing with their recent good form.

With the visits of Maritzburg United and Santos rounding out Chiefs PSL programme for this year, the Chiefs defender believes that victory in these games will be the best gift they could give to their fans as the end of the year near. A full six points haul against the coastal teams will ensure that Chiefs will come back from the holidays, well rested and ready to make a serious assault on the Championship.