Lamontville Golden Arrows’ poor decision-making let them down as they were eliminated from the Carling Knockout Cup, coach Mandla Ncikazi said after Tuesday’s 1-0 defeat to Mamelodi Sundowns.
Arrows lost 1-0 in their quarterfinal tie to an Iqraam Rayners goal after 69 minutes.
“We knew what we were going to face. We were playing champions quality, but we tried to play our game the way we planned,” said Ncikazi of his side’s approach to the game at Loftus Versfeld.
“But something was missing in our game. If you play against Mamelodi Sundowns, you're not going to create lots of chances. We got into the areas that we wanted to get into, but then the final pass, the final decision …. I'm just disappointed that there was just one missing link. I don't think we will win games if we don't take decisions in that final area.
“But I'm not disappointed with the effort from the boys. They are receptive; they work very hard. And there's something to work on,” Ncikazi added.
“You have to box smart when you play Sundowns; choose the areas where you think you can hit them. If you want to go 50-50 with them, you must ask, ‘Does your quality allow you to do that?’ That's the question. But where can you benefit? I thought we were getting into good spaces, but the disappointment was, like I said, the final pass.
“When you’re playing a cup match you can change the strategy. When we went 1-0 down, there was no reason to sit back and we changed the way we were pressing.
“I thought we did get chances to take shots, but we were not as clinical as they were.
“We have work to do, go back home, try and make the team better. That's why we are coaches,” the new Arrows boss said.
Ncikazi returned to Arrows as coach last week, and this is his second loss after the derby defeat by AmaZulu last Saturday.