Must-win Richards Bay KZN PSL derby as Golden Arrows hits new low

Golden Arrows have found themselves slipping into troubled waters following a poor run of form in the closing stages of the Premiership season.

Abafana Bes’thende have dropped to 14th on the league table, just three points clear of bottom-placed Cape Town City, who have played one game more.

Their latest setback came in the form of a second consecutive defeat to Orlando Pirates, this time a 3-0 loss at Orlando Stadium on Tuesday night.

While Arrows still have a game in hand over some of the other sides fighting relegation, the pressure to turn their fortunes around in the remaining fixtures is now mounting.

Coach Manqoba Mngqithi lamented his team’s failure to stick to the tactical plan, which he felt contributed to their inability to put any pressure on a Pirates outfit that wanted to give their outgoing coach Jose Riveiro a perfect send-off, as he was in charge of his final match with the club.

“Very soft goals, I must say,” the Arrows coach commented after his side’s loss.

“We had found the right balance and started well, but unfortunately, we are losing players day by day in defence, and that has cost us some progress.

“We started the game quite well with a plan of trying to press as high as we did because we knew (Sipho) Chaine is technically very sound, and it’s easy for him to find the fullbacks.

“But then we conceded a goal which I thought was very soft, and from there we switched to our pressing structure and tried to give it a fight. That presented us with some good situations, but unfortunately, on the day, we were not very sharp and made too many technical mistakes.”

Not long ago, Manqoba Mngqithi and his Golden Arrows side were in a strong position to challenge for a top-eight finish.

But a run of four consecutive defeats has flipped the script – their hopes of a top-half finish are fading fast as they now find themselves dragged into a survival scrap.

Their next assignment is a crucial KwaZulu-Natal derby against Richards Bay FC this Saturday (3.30pm kick-off), with three points now more vital than ever.

Mngqithi admitted that while his side made costly errors, the Buccaneers were the superior team on the night.

“When we went for a medium block, we were hoping to create situations from counter-attacks, but we made far too many technical mistakes,” he said.

“The energy in our counter-presses and transition from defence to attack was not at the level I expected, which was surprising to me, because we are a team that had improved a lot in that regard.

“This was one of the few matches where we did not create enough.

“We were late on our press out wide, but on the day, I really think Pirates deserved to win the match.

“They were stronger than us, wanted it more, and we were not at our best compared to the previous match. That’s how we lost the game.”