Unimpressed Maduka suggests Chiefs play ugly after cup loss

Royal AM coach John Maduka has suggested that his team lost the Nedbank Cup quarter final to Kaizer Chiefs because they abandoned their style of play. 

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Maduka says his team didn’t play their normal flowing game and copied their opponent Chiefs in playing long balls. 

Chiefs won the game at Chatsworth Stadium 3-2 in extra time. The match had ended at 1-1 and Chiefs were awarded a penalty in the first half of extra time. 

Yusuf Maart converted from the spot to hand Chiefs their ticket to the semifinals of Ke Yona where they will meet traditional rivals Orlando Pirates.

“I think that if it is not your day, it is just not your day,” said Maduka after the match. 

“We started well and we scored the goal from a set piece. After that we contained them and they never looked like they would score until we made that mistake. 

“So, in other words, we made things difficult for ourselves. In games like these you have to concentrate throughout the match,” added Maduka. 

“You make one mistake and you get punished. But I am proud of the boys, we never gave up. 

“We conceded an own goal and the other goal was from a penalty but we continued fighting.”

Maduka was however not impressed with how his team played, saying it was not their way and more suited for Chiefs.

Chiefs played long balls, says Maduka

“But I strongly believe that although we fought, we also did not play the way we normally play. 

“We played like the opposition who kicked the ball forward (all the time) and that is not our game… 

“We were supposed to keep the ball, try and create those chances going forward but we didn’t do that. 

“But maybe it was because of the nature of the game… Cup games are like that, players don’t want to make mistakes, but that’s when the mistakes happen,” added Maduka. 

Chiefs’ Arthur Zwane also admitted that the display was not too easy on the eye. 

“I don’t think we created enough clear cut chances today to make their life difficult,” said Zwane after the match. 

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“I think we could have done better in terms of creating chances. But in terms of effort, today it was more about fighting than going there and playing silky football. 

“All we wanted was to go through to the semi final and we will find our way going forward and see how we can work on ourselves.