Durban — Royal AM coach John Maduka has defended their next opponent Kaizer Chiefs whose recent strokes of luck with penalties and red cards have come under the spotlight.
Thwihli Thwahla will host the Glamour Boys at the Chatsworth Stadium on Sunday at 6pm in a highly anticipated quarter-final clash of the Nedbank Cup.
Ahead of this encounter, Amakhosi have been on the receiving end of 10 penalties this season, the most of any team in the DStv Premiership and have also played against 10 men nine times, the most of any side this season.
Maduka said that the attention on Chiefs is unwarranted as they are not the ones in the centre of the field officiating matches.
“At the end of the day, you can’t blame Chiefs for playing with an advantage (of having an extra man) because the decisions are not made by them, they just go there and play the game.
“What’s for us is to focus because that happens in football whereby there can be red cards and penalties,” he told the media at the Royal Ranch this week.
“We must be able to deal with that as professionals and our players should be ready mentally. If you want to go to the next round you should be prepared for anything. Anything (in reference to red cards and penalties in regulation time) can happen at any time against any team, so we must be able to deal with that.”
IOL Sport