Lamontville Golden Arrows co-coach Musa Bilankulu saw his side take a point away at Cape Town City and move into the top eight of the Betway Premiership standings, talking an early lead at the Athlone Stadium on Wednesday before the match ended in a 1-1 draw.
“It was a very interesting game, difficult as well, with both teams coming from a loss in their previous games, and we wanted three points as much as Cape Town City wanted three points,” said Bilankulu in his assessment of the 90 minutes.
“I believe in the first 10-15 minutes we came out nicely on transition because we tried to close the spaces behind because we knew that Cape Town City had been playing on transition, but they changed the approach because it's normal when you playing at home, you will want to take the game to the opponents, not wait for the opponents to come to you.
“They did that through the middle, through the sides, and so they gave us a bit of a challenge, but we were ready for that. Sometimes our wingers needed to also overload the midfield. So we were ready for those transitional moments and we came out once on a transition where (Nduduzo) Sibiya managed to win the battle with (Lorenzo) Gordinho on the side, and he created the moment for us to score the goal,” he added.
Sibiya stripped Gordinho of the ball and squared for Bongani Cele to score after 15 minutes but City equalised with a curling freekick from Tshegofatso Nyama two minutes into the second half.
“We tried to absorb the pressure for the whole first half, and we knew that was going to be difficult in the second half, because they wanted to come and get that early goal so that the game could be balanced again,” said the Arrows coach
“Unfortunately, we couldn't manage to control the first 15 minutes, a critical phase where I knew, as I told them in the dressing room, that if we managed to control that phase, we would come through and win the game. “But we couldn't, they equalised with a beautiful free kick, after which we tried to come out on breaks, but it was not meant to be,” Bilankulu added.
FULL TIME
— Lamontville Golden Arrows FC (@goldenarrowsfc1) February 5, 2025
Points shared on the road with Cape Town City as we end in a 1-all draw at Athlone Stadium
Goals in the 15th minute by B.Cele and Nyama in the 48th@CapeTownCityFC 1-1 Lamontville Golden Arrows#SthendeWay #10betGoldenArrows #BetwayPrem #GreenAndGold pic.twitter.com/hhVrlr09hk