Securing his first win, which he described as ‘breaking the ice’, is perhaps the only thing that Kaizer Chiefs coach Arthur Zwane liked about his team’s performance in the 3-0 win over Maritzburg United.
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Chiefs secured their first three points of the new DStv Premiership campaign, making up for the 1-0 loss they suffered at the hands of Royal AM in their first game last weekend.
But despite the win and the team showing signs of getting better, Zwane remained unconvinced especially with how they could not keep the same rhythm.
“We played in patches,” Zwane told the media after the game at FNB Stadium on Tuesday evening.
“That is despite the fact that we started much better than in the game against Royal AM – this time we started on the front foot. Four minutes into the game we managed to break the ice which has been a worry in terms of scoring goals.”
Amakhosi took the lead in the fourth minute through new striker Ashley Du Preez’ goal. He showed hunger and cunning when he pounced on a loose ball to score his first goal for Chiefs.
“We needed it (the goal) to boost our confidence and it came at the right time. But after scoring, the tempo went down. We took our foot off the pedal. For about 15 minutes we gave them too much space and time on the ball.
“The worry was then that they would gain confidence and pose a threat towards our goals. I think compared to the last game, in the game we played against Royal AM there was some consistency and today we played in patches.”
But when Maritzburg looked to be finding their way back into the game, their defence made another careless mistake. It ended with Keagan Dolly sending the ball into an open and empty net.
“After 20 minutes we got another goal. But I believe that based on the number of chances that we created in the first half, we could have easily gone into the break leading at least by 4-0,” added the Chiefs mentor.
“We were not clinical. Then the worry now was coming into the second half was that they were chasing the game and they would push everyone forward.
“They made four changes at the break and we had to make sure that we don’t concede in the 20-25 minutes of the second half so that we could still be in control of the game and manage to consolidate.
“We kept them in control and we knew that the more they pushed numbers forward, they would be left open at the back for us to get one v ones and get a third goal that would kill the game off,” explained Zwane.
