AmaZulu FC coach Brandon Truter felt that they made it hard for themselves against Lamontville Golden Arrows on Tuesday afternoon.
Usuthu ended their 2021-22 DStv Premiership campaign with a 2-1 loss to Abafana Bes’thende in the KwaZulu-Natal Derby encounter which was played at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban.
“It was difficult for us of course, but we made it difficult for ourselves,” Truter said.
“Firstly, congratulations to Arrows for the win. We played straight into their hands. They are a counterattacking team and they are very good.
“They play on the counter which means that we had to be careful. So, we weren’t and we got punished for that. We needed to be more patient on the ball and take better care as well.”
Sphesihle Maduna gave Usuthu the lead when he netted in the 40th minute, but Abafana Bes’thende levelled matters through Velemseni Ndwandwe two minutes later and the score was level at half-time.
“But when you force things and there is a possession turnover against a team against Arrows, there is always that possibility that you will get punished and that is what happened,” he said.
“In the first-half we didn’t get stuck in enough, we wanted them to go into areas we had planned for them to go into, but all of sudden we didn’t win the ball or we didn’t get the numbers around the ball.”
Arrows’ winning goal was netted by Nduduzo Sibiya with seven minutes left on the clock after the visitors were awarded a penalty and Truter felt that his charges played straight into the opposition’s hands.
“They came out and they got the equalising goal. In the second-half, we controlled it, but when we got into the final third we played straight into their hands,” he added.
“We made hasty decisions, there was carelessness and we just gave it away at times, and so they counterattacked. Well done to them.”
AmaZulu finished the campaign in the seventh spot on the league standings and they qualified for next season’s MTN8.
