Chippa United pay the price for sluggish start against Golden Arrows

Junior Dion opened the scoring in the 10th minute at King Zwelithini Stadium on Saturday, leaving the Chilli Boys chasing the game. 

Truter admits his players struggled to cope with Arrows’ aggressive pressing, which kept them pinned inside their own half and made it difficult to build attacks.

"The boys wanted to win it but I give credit to Arrows. They played well. I think we could have done better with the goals, definitely could have done better with the goals but that put us under pressure from the start,” Truter said.

“We should have handled one or two moments a bit better, especially with the press or the high press, we should have bypassed it. We opted to play out and got punished, ultimately in our defensive third but they got an early goal, that changed the dynamic and the mindset of course. 

“Even the second one I think we could have done better, felt a little bit higher off the pitch but we carried out the repercussions after the missed tackle and they scored the second one."

READ: Ashley Makhanya praises clinical Arrows after Chippa demolition

Following their 1-0 league defeat to Kruger United, Truter opted to rotate his squad after largely relying on the same starting eleven in the opening matches of the season. 

Sammy Seabi, Obakhe Tshaya and Ibrahim Bance were among those given an opportunity to start, with the coach insisting the adjustments were intended to bring fresh energy rather than experiment with his selection. 

Truter believes his halftime changes helped Chippa gain more control and forced Arrows to defend deeper, but he was disappointed by his side’s inability to convert their opportunities.

"Handed some starts here today, of course it looks like we are experimenting but these guys need to play. So far our line up has been consistent for the past eight games and we wanted to freshen it up a bit,” the coach added. 

“Unfortunately at half time we needed to make a decision because the boys really wanted it today. I made the changes at half time, I was then forced to a very deep defensive block and we created chance after chance after chance and still didn't score. 

“The concern for me in terms of finishing it, it would have been a concern if we didn't create chances but it's bound to quality at this point but it's something we worked on. It things that we are there to coach but better performance in the second half."