Maduka Praises Royal AM’s Comeback
Royal AM coach John Maduka praised his team for their second-half comeback against Kaizer Chiefs at Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday.
As Chiefs flew out of the blocks to score those goals in a space of 13 minutes through Ashley Du Preez and Wandile Duba, Maduka’s side appeared to have their tails up in the second half.
Ayabulela Maxwele caught Chiefs goalkeeper Brandon Petersen from range in the 50th minute, with Amakhosi failing to deal with the first and the second ball in defense.
Heading to the dying minutes, Levy Mashiane robbed Given Msimango who went all out to clear the danger and the attacker was smart to knock the ball off him before placing the ball past Petersen to level the matters.
As Chiefs coach Nasreddine Nabi slammed his players for lack of professionalism and respect for opponents, Maduka praised his side for taking instruction on board, saying he knew Chiefs wasted so much energy in the first half and they were going to be tired in the second stanza.
“The first thing I said to them, this was not a difficult game,” said Maduka after the game.
“We are making the game difficult for ourselves because we are not marking. You can’t play football if you don’t defend well.
“Once we fixed that, because we were going forward, I said in the first half, if we go forward, we will be able to get one. Once we get one, we will get the second. Remember Chiefs was using a lots of energy in the first half, taking the game to us.
“If we could have absorbed that pressure well that we didn’t concede the two goals, it was going to be different game in the second half.
“The boys took the instructions and we went in there and we did the job. I’m so proud of the boys.”
Chiefs totally dominated the game with chances creation and their captain Yusuf Maart was at fault, especially in the first half when he clipped the ball over when he should have picked up the spot.
Duba also missed a one-on-one when he was clean through in the first half, Mdu Shabalala firing wide also inside the box, Du Preez crashing the upright. In the second half, Pule Mmodi rounded Royal AM goalkeeper Mondli Mpoto but failed to find the target, while Maart also fired straight at Mpoto who made a save.
“We could have conceded more, we were lucky to survive,” revealed Maduka.
“Because in the first half we were not marking – we allowed them to come to our area and they gave us so many problems. But at the same time whenever were in possession, we looked okay, the movement was good in the first half.”
The draw leaves Royal AM in 10th place in the table with eight points after nine matches.
