Golden Arrows coach Pitso Dladla says Chiefs draw should have been a win

Golden Arrows coach Pitso Dladla believes his side created enough opportunities to take all three points against Kaizer Chiefs in their Betway Premiership meeting at Mbombela Stadium on Sunday.

The match was a demanding contest, with both teams pursuing victory. Kaizer Chiefs had the clearest opportunity to break the deadlock in the first half, but Lebohang Maboe failed to convert a penalty.

Ayabulele Maxwele was named man of the match after an energetic display in both defence and attack. Dladla praised the defender’s contribution and said the result did not reflect Arrows’ performance.

“Yes, first and foremost congratulations to him, I thought he really covered massive distances. We planned very well especially how we going to open them up front, we knew with the three centre-backs with the fullbacks going up front there will be spaces especially on the channels,” Dladla told SuperSport TV.

The coach said Golden Arrows had anticipated opportunities in the wide areas against Kaizer Chiefs’ three-man defence and pointed to several attacking moves that had been prepared during training.

“If you can remember Sithole’s cross where Dion connects well, it’s something we worked on of which it’s similar to Renaldo’s cross where Alwande did not connect well. We knew that if we stay wide they going to be open in the box, but we created clearer chances than them. I thought we deserved at least maximum points this afternoon,” he added.

Despite being unable to find a decisive goal, Dladla was encouraged by the clean sheet and said his players remained aware of the areas that required improvement.

“But we know what we’re working as a team, we know the areas we need to improve, we managed to keep a clean-sheet but sometimes just get one goal and take the maximum points,” he said.

Arrows alter defensive approach

Golden Arrows have built a reputation for being difficult to break down, although recent performances had exposed gaps in their defensive structure. Dladla explained that the team had reconsidered how it balanced attacking numbers with defensive cover.

“To be honest, why we conceded goals before is because we sat down as a team and said when we attack, we need to invest more numbers in advanced areas of which we did not deal well with our rest defence so this time around we worked on having a proper rest defence while investing more numbers up front of which what we did today but did not concede,” he said.

Dladla also credited goalkeeper Thakasani Mbanjwa for saving the penalty and acknowledged the work of the club’s analysts and goalkeeper coach in helping prepare for the spot-kick.

“But it was just a matter of scoring goal, by the way good save from Mbanjwa there at the penalty spot, credit to our analysts and goalkeeper coach for signalling where he should go,” he said.