Royal AM coach Maduka rues missed chances in Arrows draw

Royal AM missed an opportunity to jump to second place in the DStv Premiership standings after playing to a goalless draw with Golden Arrows at the Chatsworth Stadium on Sunday.

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The outcome of the match took the KwaZulu-Natal based side point tally to 23 points after 15 games while sitting in position four on the log, level with third-placed Orlando Pirates, while Kaizer Chiefs, who are on 25 points after 14 matches occupy second spot.

A win for Royal would have seen them level on points with Amakhosi, but they would have occupied second place with the side having a better goal difference to that of Chiefs.

Head coach John Maduka rued his side’s failure to be lethal in front of goals and believes they could have won the game had they been sharp enough.

“I think we started the game well, we could get into the final third, but we were not sharp enough. Whenever we had the ball we were passing each other too much instead of not trying to go wide and put in some crosses and try to finish. We did not do that. But our defensive organization was far much better than the way we did against Mamelodi Sundowns,” said Maduka.

“We defended so well, Samuel Manganyi, Sikhetele Mabuza, Lantshane Phalane, they managed to deal with any problem we encountered. We were in charge, we were in control of the game. If we were sharp enough in front we could have got something. In the second half, we were strong and we told the players not to overplay in the midfield, let’s try one or two passes and go wide. We did that and we created so many chances, it is just that we were not sharp enough. We would be speaking something different if we were sharp enough.”

Maduka and his charges next host Chiefs on Sunday.