Lamontville Golden Arrows acting coach Ashley Makhanya hailed their runaway win over Chippa United in the first round of the Carling Knockout Cup on Saturday as a timely boost for the club.
The former Wits University fullback was taking charge of his first football match after Arrows fired coach Pitso Dladla on Thursday and installed Mandla Ncikazi as new coach.
Ncikazi had his first contact with the team at a Friday training session and watched from the stands on Saturday as Arrows thumped Chippa 4-0 to become the first side through to the cup competition’s quarterfinals.
Makhanya was acting as coach and had a glorious debut. “It was a fantastic game for us, coming from defeat (against Milford) last week, also from a spell of creating opportunities and not scoring, and then scoring four in one game, that's fantastic for us, and a confidence booster,” said Makhanya, who added he was excited to be working with Ncikazi.
“In terms of our technical approach, defensively, we had good application on the high press, to deny them. I think that in the first 15 minutes, we won every duel in their half, and were able to transition and create pressure. We kept up after scoring, and our second goal came from good control. They didn't have the speed to measure up to us, and we were able to pick up balls and maintain the pressure.”
Arrows led 2-0 at the break with goals from Sede Dion and Sabelo Sithole.
“From then we had good control of the game and we were not under much pressure. In the second half, the heat was taking its toll, and we knew Chippa would come at us. But I think we managed that period, and then caught them on the break to kill off the game,” Makhanya added.
Two more late goals from substitutes Nhlanhla Zwane and Jerome Karelse saw arrows through to the last eight.