Zwane: “We are a working in progress“

By Ayanda Nyuswa

AmaZulu FC co coach Arthur Zwane has called on his team to be clinical in front of goal, and more defensively sound when they face KZN rivals Royal AM in a Betway Premiership clash at the King Zwelithini Stadium on Friday. Usuthu go into this encounter at the back of a 1-0 loss to TS Galaxy that prevented them from recording a hat trick of league victories. The KZN outfit overcame Chippa United (2-0) and Richards Bay FC (3-1) prior to their visit to Mbombela.

Ezikankotheni, as they are affectionately known, will welcome a Royal Am side that is winless in three league matches with two draws and one defeat. However, they will be encouraged by their most recent result where they came back from two goals down to play a 2-2 against Kaizer Chiefs. John Maduka’s men find themselves in 9th position on the Betway Premiership standings, two points above their KZN opponents.

Usuthu is down in 14th position with two wins and 5 defeats in their seven league matches. The Sandile Zungu owned side averages just over a goal a game in the league and have shipped in 10 goals in their first seven league matches. Co-coach Arthur Zwane has called for more improvements on both departments as they look to convert more of the chances created and be more stingy in giving away goals.

“We are a work in progress and there are a lot of positives in the team. We just have to be clinical in front of goals, we just have to avoid giving the ball away cheaply in critical areas,” said Zwane.

“We need to avoid conceding goals towards the end of the first half or end of the game in the second half. I think that’s where sometimes, we are leading and get a little bit excited. It happened against Chippa, where we were leading 2-0 and they hit the cross bar. We gave them hope that we shouldn’t have, and you know, obviously it’s mindset thing.”