AmaZulu coach Pablo Franco has told of the pain of saying farewell to deceased striker Bonginkosi Ntuli, as he dedicated his side’s come-from-behind win over Golden Arrows to the late striker.
Usuthu bagged all three points in their KZN derby courtesy of a 12-minute hat-trick from substitute Augustine Kwem.
Speaking after the win Franco told the media: “What happened this week was the toughest thing you can ever imagine, seeing players sending off their teammate. What we achieved today was for Bongi Ntuli. The only thing I think of right now is this guy.
“We achieved a great result under really difficult circumstances.
“The character of this team is amazing… my players fought very hard for the badge and for their teammate.
“It’s just unbelievable how this team fights. I don’t know where these guys got the energy from today, maybe it is from heaven.”
Meanwhile Franco’s counterpart at Arrows, Mabhuti Khenyeza, lamented a simple error from his team, which he said gifted his opponents the win. “One mistake changed the game,” he said.
“We were supposed to punish them before they even equalised. We lost the game through our own mistakes, to be honest.
“Had we scored a second goal to make it 2-0, I don’t think AmaZulu would have had that belief to say, ‘we can come back’…we should just have buried the game,” he said.
