Kaizer Chiefs coach Arthur Zwane has tried to point towards the positives after his side’s loss in the Macufe Cup.
The Amakhosi suffered a 4-2 defeat on penalties after Keagan Dolly and Thabo Mokoena had missed their spot-kicks in the shootout, which was forced thanks to a 96th minute injury-time goal by Dolly.
Ruzaigh Gamildien had given Royal AM the lead in the 88th minute before Dolly equalised to force penalties. However, Royal AM keep their neves, meaning Chiefs missed out on the Macufe Cup.
Zwane, who had rung the changes in his line-up to give several of his fringe players a chance, insisted his side could’ve done better but he also saw some positives in their performance.
“Penalties are a lottery, but I think it was a good exercise for our boys for the fact that we also came back from a goal down,” Zwane told SABCSport after the match.
“I still believe we could’ve done much better from the few goalscoring opportunities we created.
“What we are happy about is giving other players an opportunity. The effort of the boys, they have done well but we could’ve done better.
“We were trying to put some milage up there, we’re trying to help the boys to be on par with the other boys that have been playing regularly,”
“That’s what the whole exercise was about today.”
Chiefs have missed out on the Macufe Cup for a second edition in row after losing the 2019 version to Bloemfontein Celtic. The Macufe Cup had returned for the first time in three years, and will see Royal AM make their debut, after they bought Bloemfontein Celtic’s status two years ago.
Celtic were the last winners of this traditional friendly competition that is part of the annual Macufe Festival in Bloemfontein. While it was usually played on the last day of the festival, this time around it is being played a week before.
