Golden Arrows end winless run with emphatic Carling Knockout victory

Golden Arrows assistant coach Ashley Makhanya says the club’s 4-0 Carling Knockout victory over Chippa United provided a timely reward after a difficult run in front of goal.

Junior Dion, Sabelo Sithole, Nhlanhla Zwane and Jerome Karelse scored as Abafana Bes’thende booked their place in the quarter-finals at King Zwelithini Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Makhanya took charge from the technical area in the absence of newly appointed head coach Manda Ncikazi. He said the cup competition had given his players the opportunity to express themselves after a challenging spell.

“It’s important for the players, they’ve worked very hard, so fortunately cup competitions freeze you a bit. It’s not like the league, you can really go and express yourself so it came at the right time for us and the players could really go all out,” Makhanya said.

“The four goals boosted us, and gave us much more confidence for the next game against Amazulu.”

The victory ended a five-match winless run for Golden Arrows, who had gone into the tie after losing 1-0 to newly promoted Milford FC in a KwaZulu-Natal derby.

Makhanya was especially pleased with the response from his attacking players. Arrows had created opportunities in previous matches but struggled to convert them, before finding the net four times against Chippa.

“Coming from a 1-0 last week, also from a spell of creating opportunities then scoring and then scoring four in one game so that’s fantastic for us and a confidence booster in terms of our tactical approach,” he added.

He also praised the team’s defensive discipline and the way it carried out the plan to disrupt Chippa’s build-up play.

“Defensively good application on the high press to deny them, they are inverting full backs and their key player in coming out from the back, Mosele [Goodman] and forcing them in the wide areas to find the wingers, Stanley [Nwabali] and he was finding the touchline.

“When he did find a player, we were on top of them, it went accordingly, so very good application in terms of our game plan.”