Mbabane Highlanders coach Sly Mosala was left to rue his side’s failure to convert several gilt-edged chances as they went down to Royal AM 2-0.
Highlanders created the most chances in the first leg, played on home soil in Mbabane last week. In the first half of that encounter, Ezimnyama Ngenkani created a flurry of chances, but were unable to convert.
Again, on Friday at the Moses Mabhida, they had a big chance to open the scoresheet just 15 minutes into the game and they blew it.
“Today we had a big chance in the first 15 minutes again,” Mosala told FARPost after the game.
He believes if they had taken that chance, it would have changed the complexion of the game.
“We did our best even though our best was not enough today,” he added.
Royal AM got their two goals through Elias Pelembe just before half time with Ruzaigh Gamildien adding another three minutes before the end.
Former Mbabane Highlanders midfielder Stanford Ncube said it was always going to be difficult for the Eswatini giants.
They only kick off the league campaign in a fortnight, meaning the last time they played competitively was in May.
“The challenge is match fitness. They’ve not played competitively since the league ended in May.
“Friendly matches are not enough to gauge your readiness or prepare you for such a competition.
“It takes a good 10 or so games to get match fitness so it was always going to be tough for them.
“But they gave a good account of themselves especially in the first half of the first leg.
“Hopefully authorities will look into the Eswatini calendar and align it with the other leagues on the continent.
“This will help Eswatini teams compete better in the interclub competitions,” Ncube told FARPost.
Mosala believes the CAF Confederation Cup would have given his charges some good experience.
They resume the league campaign in a fortnight and they will be pushing to wrest it from Royal Leopards.
Last season, they missed it by just two points as Leopards retained it for the second time.
Meanwhile, Royal AM will now face Zambia’s Zesco on October 7 in the second preliminary round of the CAF Confederation Cup.
