Mikia Kalati
BANTU coach, James Madidilane, has bemoaned the defensive errors that saw Swazi visitors score four crucial away goals against his side in the preliminary round of the CAF Champions League at Setsoto Stadium on Sunday.
Bantu lost the match 2-4 and Madidilane conceded that his charges now had a tall order in their quest to advance to the next stage as they need to win the return leg in Swaziland by at least three clear goals.
“We did not play well and conceded a lot of goals which is very worrying,” Madidilane said, adding, “But we remain hopeful that we will go to Swaziland and score the three goals that are needed to advance”.
However, the Bantu mentor said his charges will have to be more disciplined and avoid conceding “cheap goals” as they did in the first leg.
He also called on star players such as Litšepe Marabe, Hlompho Kalake and Thapelo Mokhehle who had a bad game against Swallows to redeem themselves in the second leg.
“We will have to work harder to avoid conceding goals in the manner that we did in the first leg. The mistakes we made were very costly and the first three goals they scored came from our own mistakes.
“In the first half, we had a chance to take the lead but conceding those silly goals affected the morale of the team and it became difficult to come back.
“I also hope that our key players who were average and off form will return to their best and be on the same wavelength with Moloisane Ramasimong who was our best player on the day.
“If they do that then we have a good chance of redeeming ourselves in Swaziland.”
He also conceded that the lack of depth in the squad cost them as they were forced to switch experienced defender and captain, Thapelo Mokhehle, to the left back position. Young Johannes Molapo and Tsietsi Khooa were played as the centre-backs.
He said they had the opportunity of registering 30 players for the competition but this did not happen because they did not find on time some of those players that they wanted to bring into the team.
“But we cannot put the blame on players. It was just not our day,” Madidilane said.
