AmaZulu coach Arthur “10111” Zwane is undeterred by Tuesday’s league defeat against Pirates and asserted that the team is still on track to finish in the top four.
Relebohile Mofokeng and an own goal by AmaZulu goalkeeper Darren Johnson gave Pirates a 2-0 win at Moses Mabhida Stadium, propelling them to the top of the table, where they enjoy a three-point lead over second-placed Mamelodi Sundowns.
“A win would have been a morale booster for the players to see themselves challenging for the title, but we are still within the targets in terms of finishing fourth,” Zwane said.
The Usuthu coach acknowledged Pirates’ quality, and their approach on the day as they headed into this fixture off the back of a trip to Bloemfontein, where they beat Marumo Gallants 1-0 three days earlier.
“We played against a quality side,” he said. “If you look at how Pirates are playing, you can see that they’re the best team in the country right now, so we needed to make sure that we managed them. We only had one day to prepare the team. We had to refresh the squad; hence, we started with Pule [Ekstein] and Bongani [Zungu].”
Zwane also suggested that high expectations on the day put them on the back foot.
“Maybe we expected a lot from our boys because we also saw the opportunity of being No 1 on the log. We wanted to win this once...it was really important to win it because a lot was at stake,” he said.
“When you look at history, it’s been a while since we beat Pirates, so we wanted to change that. We also wanted to make our supporters, our board and our president happy. We wanted to break whatever it is, maybe a curse, against Pirates.”
Ekstein, 35, played his 100th game for the club on the day.
Sowetan
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