Golden Arrows Head Coach Mandla Ncikazi said that AmaZulu’s equalising goal in stoppage time left his team stunned, and it was the turning point that saw them knocked out of the Nedbank Cup.
Arrows had led for most of the match after Michael Gumede’s early strike, but after Lehlohonolo Majoro scored in stoppage time for AmaZulu, Benni McCarthy’s team went on to win the game in a penalty shoot out.
The Arrows coach feels that the late goal was the turning point, and the momentum swung in AmaZulu’s direction.
“I thought that was the turning point,” Ncikazi said in reference to Majoro’s goal.
“Too much expectation equal to too much disappointment. I thought in their minds mentally already the game was over. And now when you concede in that moment, it gives the energy to the opponents that we are back, opposite to our team. They felt like a loss.”
“And we never recovered from that mentally, you could see, normally we’re not a team that fights amongst ourselves. You could see them chatting back to each other. And I tried to control that. But these are humans. Their emotions came out like that.”
“Congratulations to AmaZulu, we wish them all the best.”
