AmaZulu head coach Arthur Zwane was left disappointed after his side were knocked out of the Carling Knockout Cup, suffering a 2-1 defeat to Stellenbosch at the Danie Craven Stadium on Sunday evening.
Usuthu had looked in control for large spells of the second half against Gavin Hunt’s side, but their hopes of reaching the semi-finals were dashed when a stoppage-time penalty was awarded following a handball by Taariq Fielies. The defeat also brought an end to AmaZulu’s impressive unbeaten run, which had stretched back to August.
Zwane, who was named Betway Premiership Coach of the Month for September and October, suggested his side would have to go back to the drawing board. However, with AmaZulu having won six consecutive matches before Sunday’s setback, I asked whether the priority was simply to rediscover the form and habits that had served them so well during that run.
“Yeah, look, Big Man, it’s true what you are saying, but at the end of the day, we still have a lot of work to do,” Zwane replied.
“Hence, I said, if we made some good decisions, more especially in the final third entries, and a lot of times one of our strengths is us playing the ball in the assist zones, just like the goal we scored. Had we played many of those, I think we could have easily had or created more goalscoring opportunities. Actually, we got. Pule [Ekstein] got there, but of course he was late. You get what I mean.
“So, Omega [Mdaka] got there, and then he delayed. [Riaan] Hanamub got there, and then the ball was near post. We had a lot of those, especially second half, but we’re just not finding or getting the right players in terms of the selection of passes in order for them to tap in.
“Then you end up because now the game is going in your favour, you become excited sometimes because you can see the opposition is also now waiting, they are forming a block. They don’t want to take the game to us. You know why? Because now we are in control. But now, once you are in control, you tend to suffer like we ended up conceding, a penalty, you know, of which is in football.
“So, we can sit here and say, no, it was supposed to be a foul there, but you still had defenders to maybe make a professional foul or do something.
“But that’s football, you know. But then ja, we have ourselves to blame. To be quite honest, we had this game in our hands, and then we let it slip. And sometimes we’ve got to learn, and unfortunately, we’ve got to learn the hard way.”