Golden Arrows have held their own this season against the big guns and dropped important Absa Premiership points where they shouldn’t have.
That’s the view of coach Steve Komphela, whose side was in seventh place before the 2019/20 campaign was halted by the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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“I wish we couldn’t have stopped because we had momentum and we could see things were becoming clearer by the day. There were very few matches where we were outplayed, outthought and outmuscled,” the coach explained.
The most notable games for Arrows were of course against the title challengers Mamelodi Sundowns, Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates.
“We just got careless. When we look back we say we need to work on our belief and understanding what needs to be done. We need to concentrate better – most of the matches were drew and lost it was unthinkable,” said Komphela.
“You can count a lot of them, Pirates and Chiefs games for instance. You don’t know how we lost that Pirates match (goalless draw last month), we should have had a penalty. The Chiefs game (1-0 defeat in January) we gave away the points in the last minute. And the Sundowns one the same, I am counting the big ones.”
Komphela said he could still not explain how they dropped crucial points against the sides that are more on their level in terms of expectations.
“Then you have Stellenbosch, Maritzburg and Highlands Park were you don’t understand what happened. There’s no match where we were outclassed, including the 5-0 away to Bloemfontein Celtic. We played our best game and they just kept scoring, every opportunity they had, they took it. I thought we did not deserve to lose 5-0, our worst margin this year. When you look back, you can only say ‘if’,” said the coach.
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