Benni McCarthy has admitted that Chippa United whom they beat 1-0 in a DStv Premiership match at Mdantsane’s Sisa Dukashe Stadium in East London on Wednesday evening were tough opponents.
Tapelo Xoki’s penalty in the 56th minute gave Usuthu the three points and made life more difficult for the Chilli Boys.
“It was one of those days. It wasn’t one of the prettiest. Chippa made it really hard, difficult for us to play our usual game that we are accustomed to,” the Usuthu coach said.
“Understandably, the situation they find themselves in, hovering there at the bottom of the log. You know these guys are fighting for their lives, they are fighting for survival. For us, it’s just the constant rise. We just try not to make mistakes.”
Meanwhile, Chilli Boys coach Dan Malesela said that they lost because of the mistakes they committed during the match.
“We started off succumbing to pressure. We made mistakes. Instead of releasing the ball, we wanted to individualise things. They put us under pressure. It was undue pressure,” Malesela said.
“Thereafter, we did fairly well in the second half until we allowed a goal where it looked like there was not gonna be a goal. The discipline was not there enough to defend. We should have been emphatic in stopping the cross from going through. We had chance after chance that we never converted. We are in a very peculiar situation where we need to understand we have to knuckle down and play.”
The Chilli Boys are going to remain in East London for Saturday’s Nedbank Cup quarter-final match against GladAfrica Championship side Richards Bay FC at the Sisa Dukashe Stadium.
