Maritzburg United coach John Maduka said he knew Orlando Pirates were vulnerable at the back and they waited for the right moment to score.
Maduka said that was the only way to beat Pirates because there was no way they were going to match them talent-wise and the best thing to do was to just wait for the right moment to punish them.
Maritzburg ended their 12 league match winless streak against Pirates, beating the Soweto giants 1-0 at Harry Gwala Stadium on Sunday evening.
Speedy winger Siboniso Conco was pushed in the back by Olisa Ndah, in what was lazy defending from the Nigeria international, giving Maritzburg a penalty that Amadou Soukouna stepped up to convert – which saw Pirates lose for the second time this season.
“We knew the best way to deal with Pirates was to make sure that we contain them, especially in the first half because they play with a lot of speed,” said Maduka after the game.
“They take the game to the opposition and try as much as they can to score an early goal and we managed to deal with that. We also had good chances. If you look at the first half, they didn’t have chances but we did with Soukouna. If he was sharp enough he would have given us something.
“But we waited for that moment to try to catch them on the counter-attack because they were looking forward to scoring that goal. But we knew somewhere somehow they would be vulnerable at the back and it did happen whereby we managed to get that penalty.”
Maritzburg goalkeeper King Ndlovu was on many occasions tasked to come out of his line to clear the ball. It is why he was named Man of the match. The former Black Leopards coach goalkeeper denied Bienvenu Eva Nga and Zakhele Lepasa.
Interestingly, Ndlovu was showing off to Pirates. He trained with them a few seasons ago but he was not signed.
“King did very well and he played as a sweeper keeper,” added Maduka. “He swept everything that was coming behind our defenders,” Maduka concluded.
