Kaizer Chiefs coach Arthur Zwane admits he did not expect TS Galaxy to give them such a tough time on the pitch after they were held to a goalless draw at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit.
The Glamour Boys failed to secure back to back wins in the DStv Premiership after they dropped points against the Rockets, who were reduced to 10 men after Marks Munyai was sent off in the 55 minute.
Amakhosi now find themselves remaining in fifth place on the table – level on 28 points with Orlando Pirates in fourth position, while Galaxy are in 10th place on the log with 23 points after 20 matches.
Zwane has since revealed that he felt no need to substitute his defender, despite their numerical advantage against the Rockets.
“We took the foot off the paddle after they were one man down,” Zwane told SuperSport TV.
“We thought the game was going to be easy and we needed a little bit of creativity, that’s why I had to bring in George [Matlou] because now we were all playing the crosses and I told them the only time Sekgota goes wide is because we want to stretch them.
“We needed a little bit of movement there in between the central defender, we didn’t do that quite often. Now we resorted crossing, but we knew they were adding numbers to defence. There was no way they were going forward. But we had to be cautious to not allow them to catch us on a break-up attack.
“So we easily maybe take one of the defenders out and bring a midfielder, offensive player, maybe even striker. But we had to be cautious because now they resorted to long balls and we wanted to win all the long balls with Siya, Zitha and Dove. So we had to push Hlanti forward to play a little bit lopsided because Siya couldn’t go.
“For me second half wasn’t good enough, it could’ve been better. We piled a lot of pressure on them, we could’ve scored one with a header I think, we missed the target. Poor decision-making on our end, it could’ve been much better.
“But I cannot fault the effort of the guys, I think from first half I didn’t see them having a shot at goal, even first half. But it’s worrying factor that we didn’t score.
“I thought after scoring two goals in Polokwane we broke the ice, we come here at least get one. The good thing is we kept a clean sheet. But should’ve scored at least one goal based on the chances we created.”
Photo by Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix
