Lamontville Golden Arrows assistant coach Mandla Ncikazi has urged his players to forget what they did over the weekend and start from scratch against SuperSport United when the two meet in Nelspruit on Tuesday at 19:30.
Abafana Bes’thende stunned Matsatsantsa 1-0 to reach the Telkom Knockout semi-finals at the same Mbombela Stadium venue on Saturday and they will now be bidding for another victory to try and make further gains in the Absa Premiership.
Ncikazi says they need to stay focused and not get too carried away by their progress in the cup. Both teams played full-strength teams on Saturday, with the visitors winning the game courtesy of Lindokuhle Mtshali’s early 12th-minute strike.
Ncikazi expects a similar match on Tuesday, especially because SuperSport United are so established and have a consistent selection policy that sees coach Kaitano Tembo rarely chop and change.
The Arrows number two admits that beating them twice in four days will not be easy, but it was certainly not impossible.
The Durban side will go into the game sitting in seventh place on the table. They have managed to accumulate 13 points from nine matches so far in 2019/20, while SuperSport enter the encounter in fifth, but with the same number of points.
It means there is little to separate the two, with the match also set to conclude the first third of the season – 10 out of 30 matches will be complete after the Mpumalanga showdown. Ncikazi is hoping they can round off the opening passage of the season with another positive result. – Report by Thahir Asmal
