Johannesburg – Mpumalanga Black Aces coach Clive Barker felt his team should have won by a bigger margin after their 3-2 Premiership victory over Moroka Swallows in Dobsonville on Saturday.
“Had we taken our chances I think we could have scored even more goals than we did. I believe we deserved to win,” Barker said.
“We kept the ball well and stringed together good passes which should have given us a more comfortable win than the score suggests.”
Swallows were dominated in their own backyard, as Aces rallied to a convincing display. Goals by Abia Nale, Kwabena Adusei and Zamuxolo Ngalo wrapped up the result for Amazayoni, while Larry Cohen and Vuyisile Wana were on the scoresheet for the Dube Birds.
The home side’s poor run of form continued as they were handed their fourth defeat in a row. They were, once again, let down by an atrocious defence which had conceded nine goals in their last three matches.
Coach Zeca Marques rebuked his defence for a sub-standard performance after the humiliating defeat.
“We are leaking at the back – it’s as simple as that. The results are not coming and we are conceding ridiculous goals,” he said.
“Our defence was just pathetic. We let in three soft goals. Actually, they were give-away goals and at this level it’s unacceptable.”
Marques said there was no parity in the determination shown by the attack compared with the defence.
“You can’t give away three easy goals just like that and expect to win. There was no way we could win with us playing like that.
“Some players I have to congratulate for giving their all and playing attractive football and helping us to score.”
The good work done by the team’s frontmen was cancelled out by the players at the back, he said.
“For us, unfortunately no matter how many goals we scored, we will concede more goals if we defend like this.
“Even if we scored nine goals, we would have let in 10 goals with that defending, which has been our biggest disappointment.”
Swallows were too heavily dependent on veteran striker Siyabonga Nomvethe, whose legs no longer had the strength to carry the entire team.
Again in an unconventional move, Swallows continued with the tactic of starting their best player, Lerato Chabangu, on the bench.
The ploy worked against them as Aces capitalised on the weakened opposition which looked to be in a shambles. – Sapa