GOLDEN ARROWS VS THANDA ROYAL ZULU | NFD

Competition: NFD
Date: Sunday,30 November 2014
Venue: Chatsworth Stadium, Durban
Kick-off: 15:30pm

Abafana Bes’thende have suffered their first defeat this season against Thanda Royal Zulu at a wet Chatsworth Stadium.

The first half of the game was a tough match-up for the sides, with both teams fighting hard for posession and ground, making the best of the wet ground .

It was the midfielders who battled it out mostly, with both teams trying to keep the ball and create the opportunities to score.

The first goal was to go to Thanda Royal, who got the ball against play, took it upfield and slammed one past Mabeave to open the scoring.

Abafana Bes’thendes game plan saw them getting up to the opposition box on a number of occasions and create scoring opportunities, but none good enough to get the equaliser they were looking for.

To add to this, just before half-time, S. Dube was sent back to the changeroom after he received a second yellow card for a tackle that the ref considered dangerous, thus him being sent off the field.

The second half saw Arrows come out confident, and with the substitution of Sibiya for Hotto, there seemed to be an injection of confidence in the team. This showed when, after picking up posession against play, Sibeko took the ball up, crossed it, where Hotto fired it past the keeper to score an equaliser.

Covering for a missing player on the field is never easy though, and Thanda Royal Zulu took full advantage of the situation, bombarding the Arrows defence continually in the second half and making the Arrows players cover the gaps as much as possible. This allowed them to score on another two occasions against the home side.

Golden Arrows will need to regroup this week, and prepare for their game against Cape Town All Stars at Athlone Stadium on Saturday 06 December.