AmaZulu coach Benni McCarthy believes one mistake denied his team the chance to reach the semi-final of the MTN8 after losing 2-1 to Cape Town City on Sunday.
The Citizens took a deserved lead in the quarter-final fixture at Moses Mabhida Stadium after Terrence Mashego scored in the eighth minute but Usuthu drew level in the 54th minute via Lehlohonolo Majoro, but Mduduzi Mdantsane slotted home the winner for City in the 89th minute.
According to McCarthy, he was impressed with the performance of his team especially the new players, but what hurt him most is conceding a goal in the last minutes after one mistake.
What did McCarthy say?
“One mistake from us and they managed to score with three minutes from injury time and it was basically lights out for us,” McCarthy told media as quoted by idiskitimes.
“We wanted to finish in the 90 minutes, which maybe was a little bit naive as well. We could’ve just gone into extra time but yeah we went for it.”
McCarthy further said his team had started the game at a slow pace allowing City to take control and it proved difficult for them to recover.
“Not the result we wanted, definitely not what we expected. But overall listen, with what I had to deal with, I’m pretty pleased with some of the performances of the new guys and overall how the team played,” said the former Bafana Bafana striker.
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“We started a bit slow, not like our usual selves like we did last season, but like I said it’s a new season and some of the players have to get used to the way we play.
“The first Cape Town City goal was a well-taken goal from the left-back but it was pretty much given to them by us. No one was putting pressure on and he almost ran from the half-way line through and then he just slots it in.
“Early in the game to settle their nerves and we having to chase the game. We looked comfortable from then on but you come in half-time after creating at least three or four opportunities to score and go with a draw into the break.”
McCarthy praises Tinkler approach
McCarthy has also praised City coach Eric Tinkler for his defensive approach, saying it proved difficult for his team to get a breakthrough.
“Second half, we just continued the same way, [Majoro] missing a fantastic opportunity and then two minutes later he scores a fantastic equaliser and you think ‘ok, now we’re on the up, we can go get that second one and that third one that we might just need to settle our nerves and take the game away from City," the former Cape Town City boss added.
“But Eric [Tinkler] the way he sets the team up defensively stopped us from getting that second goal and they played their counter-attacks very well.
“We wanted to avoid extra time because we know we’ve played the Premier Cup, which I think was quite hectic on the guys and we didn’t have the best week building up to this game. Missing 10 plus players for today’s [Sunday's] match.
“So we wanted to avoid extra-time and penalties, so we made the changes we did. Some forced changes, Mulenga and Buchanan due to injury, it left us a little bit vulnerable in midfield. Chasing the game, you always find yourselves open to the opposition.”
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