Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi has bemoaned his side’s missed chances during their shock 2-1 defeat by Maritzburg United at the Harry Gwala Stadium this past weekend.
The Brazilians suffered only their second defeat in 23 matches in the DStv Premiership this season when they lost narrowly against the Team of Choice.
However, Sundowns remain at the top of the league standings with 51 points from 23 matches, while Maritzburg move up to 10th place – level on 28 points with ninth-placed Sekhukhune United after 21 matches.
Mngqithi’s side created numerous chances throughout the game but struggled to convert their opportunities, which ultimately had United claiming all three points.
“I think we had a very dominant performance, we created enough chances to win the match. We must blame ourselves for the chances we didn’t take, because the truth of the matter is that we should have taken them, there were far too many. When you don’t take your chances you get punished,” Mngqithi told his club’s official website.
“The only sad thing is that we have lost our second match of the season and in both matches were down to dubious decisions. In the first loss to AmaZulu, there was a clear offside. The first goal that was scored today, [Alfred] Ndengane was climbing on top of Thapelo [Morena], in the view of the referee. The penalty, the player was going down before Kennedy made a tackle, it resulted in a penalty and we lost the match.
“Do we have to lose matches because of the decisions of the referee or because we are not doing what we are supposed to do. We take the blame for not scoring the goals we were supposed to score.
“We are not even looking at the teams in second position, we are focused on our process. We are fighting our battle to ensure that in this fifth cycle of the season we get a reasonable amount of points, and that is our main focus.”
Mngqithi also expressed his delight at the performance of Lesedi Kapinga and Haashim Domingo displayed in the middle of the park.
“We are very excited to gain some more players at this stage of the season who really show signs that they want to take their game to the next level. We are very happy with their work, we can still do better but I am very happy with the progress that they are making – they both score goals and create chances,” Mngqithi concluded.
