AmaZulu’s Benni McCarthy and Veli Mothwa bag PSL monthly awards

AmaZulu FC coach Benni McCarthy and goalkeper Veli Mothwa did the ‘double’ on the DStv Premiership monthly awards.

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McCarthy claimed the DStv Premiership Coach of the Month for AmaZulu’s near-perfect Dstv Premiership record in March/April, while his trusted shot-stopper, Veli Mothwa, bagged the DStv Premiership Player of the Month award.

McCarthy’s Usuthu began the month of March with a 1-0 victory over SuperSport United and went on to further triumph in six more games and played to a draw against defending champions Mamelodi Sundowns – the only game they failed to score in out of eight outings.

During this period, AmaZulu scored an impressive 13 goals and conceded only twice.

Meanwhile, McCarthy said he was proud of AmaZulu despite blowing league title chances after Baroka loss.

Usuthu blew their chances of snatching the DStv Premiership title away from Sundowns after losing 1-0 to Baroka FC at King Zwelethini Stadium in Umlazi on Tuesday, but head coach Benni McCarthy remains proud of how his players have performed so far this season.

“We can’t fault the players, they have been fantastic. I think the opposition just made it difficult for us. They were more physical than us, they were getting to the ball first and made it difficult for us. Every time we tried to play they had a bus parked in front of their goals, I think we needed to be more patient and smart on our approach. We were not clinical with the chances we created in first half, we wasted quite a number of chances and they took their chance from nothing,” said McCarthy.

“I think psychologically moving the game away from the Kings Park affected the team a little bit. This (King Zwelithini Stadium) used to be the club’s home ground, but this season we have played all of our homes games at Kings Park and we became quite accustomed to this, we were very familiar with everything. We got some great results, now you get your home game moved to another stadium where you haven’t played this season.”

Usuthu have registered 50 points in their last 27 games and trail log leaders Sundowns by seven points with the KwaZulu-Natal based outfit left with only three games.

AmaZulu can only now finish the season with 59 points should they win their rest of the games – while Downs who are on 57 points after 26 games can go on to win the league with 69 points, but now the Brazilians only need one win to lift their fourth league trophy in a row.

McCarthy and his charges will battle it out to secure the Caf Champions League spot by winning the rest of their last three fixtures against Orlando Pirates, Swallows FC and Maritzburg United.

ENDS