Wounded AmaZulu will test Highlands Park

Highlands Park coach Owen da Gama knows very well their trip to KwaZulu-Natal won’t be an easy one as they come up against AmaZulu FC for the third time this season when they clash in the last-32 round of the Nedbank Cup at the King Zwelithini Stadium tonight.

The first meeting between the Lions of the North and Usuthu saw AmaZulu beat Highlands 2-1 at the Makhulong Stadium, before they played to a goalless draw in the second game.

Highlands head into this tie on the back of a 2-1 loss to Mamelodi Sundows on Tuesday and having held Orlando Pirates to a 1-1 draw in their previous game. Da Gama says his charges learned a lot from those games, but were let down by a few silly mistakes.

“I think every game is an opportunity to learn. We are fortunate that we played Orlando Pirates early on in the season and again it was the first match in the opening game of the second round. And with Sundowns, every time you play big clubs you learn a lot and it takes a player to another level,” said Da Gama.

“The game against Sundowns … we could have won that one. It was just a matter of making mistakes, we made mistakes and they also made mistakes, Denis Onyango made a mistake and we scored from that.”

The Highlands coach went on to say that this tie was an opportunity for his players to redeem themselves.

“It’s very easy to pick up the pieces after a great performance. Our performance was good even though we made mistakes,” he added.

“The boys are looking forward to this match and they would like to redeem themselves because you’re only remembered by your last match.”

The KZN outfit meanwhile, come into this game on the back of losing 3-2 to Polokwane City in a league clash.

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