Kaizer Chiefs head coach Arthur Zwane has explained what delayed them from scoring against 10-men Maritzburg United in the Nedbank Cup last 32 at the Harry Gwala Stadium on Friday night.
Amakhosi registered a 2-0 victory in front of a sold-out crowd to book a spot in the next round. After a 90-minute goalless draw, it was Christian Saile and Ashley Du Preez who scored for Amakhosi.
Before half-time, the Team of Choice went one man down as Travis Graham got his marching after the second booking.
Zwane says they knew then it was going to be difficult to dismantle United’s defence because they would sit back.
KAIZER CHIEFS COACH ARTHUR ZWANE GIVES VERDICT ON WIN OVER MARITZBURG
“We knew from that moment that it was gonna be a difficult game,” Zwane told the media after the match.
“Playing against ten men is always tough because they will sit back and wait for the right moment to forward.
“But during that time, I think we created enough chances to wrap the game up even before half-time.
“Second half, we knew their only plan was to use Peprah as a player that can hold the ball for them, wait for the right moment, or join in quickly to support Peprah because he’s good at doing that.
“And they nearly punished us from those moments. I think the young man [Rowan Human] did well for them because I think Brandon made about two very crucial saves.
“Should one of those have gone in, it could have been a different story together or a different ball game. Brandon kept us in the game as much as we had one man extra on the field.
“As I said, it nearly worked for them but Brandon did very well.”
Having been one man short for more than 90 minutes, fatigue started kicking in in the home side’s defence. Zwane says they capitalised on that.
‘WE KNEW THEY WERE GONNA BE DEAD’
“Then going to the extra time, we knew that they were gonna be dead because they were playing for time to obviously kill our momentum,” he added.
“So, we knew that at some point if we can get a goal, we will make their life difficult.
“And we managed to get a goal in the first 15 minutes of extra time and we knew that the game would be open because they’ll be forced now to come at us fighting to get an equaliser.
“And the game was open now and they were stretched as well but I believe we could have done better in taking the chances we created.
“Had we taken half of the chances, we could have at least scored four goals today but it wasn’t to be. The good thing is that we kept a clean sheet and we managed to score two goals.”
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