Royal AM head coach John Maduka says they couldn’t cope with Mamelodi Sundowns’ quality following the 2-0 loss on Tuesday night.
Peter Shalulile and Lesiba Nku netted in either half to hand Sundowns a deserved win at Harry Gwala Stadium. The result was Royal AM’s second loss against the Brazilians in the space of three days.
Having lost their previous five league outings, Thwihli Thwahla are in danger of falling into the relegation playoff spot with two rounds remaining.
Maduka suggested that the quality of Sundowns’ players made the difference. “It’s not easy playing against Sundowns, with the players that they have. We managed to try to absorb that pressure, but once they put pressure on you until you break, and once you break, they become more in charge.”
“It’s not easy to play against them. In the first half, the mistake that we made was defending too deep, allowing them into the area where they can hurt us. Technically, they have players who can take on defenders very well, they are very good in that area.”
“Sooner or later, if you defend so deep like that, you’re bound to make those mistakes and concede goals. In the second half, we said let’s try a little bit, push a little bit, and it helped, but they still have players who are technically very good. They can create chances out of nothing, very dangerous going forward,” Maduka told SuperSport TV.
Maduka introduced a few players from the DSTV Diski Challenge squad. He believes the youngsters will learn from this experience.
“It becomes very difficult, and again, you must check, we introduced these boys coming from Diski (Challenge), they are still learning. So we have to do with whatever we have; we can’t compete with Sundowns. They can use any player on the day and will give a good performance.”
“The boys went there, it’s part of learning, they did well. Yes, we didn’t win the game, but they did well, they did try to get that experience,” Maduka added.
Royal AM will face Chippa United and Moroka Swallows in their remaining two matches. Maduka says they must fight to win both games if they want to avoid going to the playoffs.
“So yeah, we look forward to the next one, two very difficult games to go. It’s in our hands; we must win those games for us to be able to survive,” Maduka concluded.
