Maduka relieved after second win
Royal AM Malawian head coach John Maduka has breathed a sigh of relief after his side registered a historic 4-1 victory over South Africa’s DStv Premiership giants Kaizer Chiefs on Saturday evening.
The victory was the second successive win for Maduka after club owners gave him a game to win or face the chop.
Royal AM had a tumultuous start to life in the top-flight after purchasing the status of Bloemfontein Celtic on the eve of the 2021/2022 campaign.
They lost two of their DStv Premiership opening matches to Moroka Swallows and Cape Town Kings, prompting the club’s management to warn Maduka and his backroom staff.
But the former Flames captain managed to beat Chippa United before the Saturday match against Kaizer Chiefs.
On Saturday, a brace by Victor Letsoala and late goals through an own goal by Sibusiso Mabiliso and Mfundo Thikazi handed Thwihli Thwahla their second win on the bounce.
Maduka told SuperSport TV that the victory will help the club which now has six points, to build confidence.
He said: “It’s good for us to win the second game in a row, it gives them confidence and it helps them also to play more harder; to play harder because remember the more you win the more it becomes difficult.
“Like we said earlier on, it’s still work in progress, we’ve won 4-1, and we still need to play more. We want to play good football, scoring goals. We’re getting better and better. There’s so many positives that we can take from this game.”
Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter told Kickoff.com that the result has tainted the giants’ start to the season.
He said: “When we’re in the situation we’re in, trying to put together different sort of strategies within the team a 4-1 is absolutely not the desired result.
“The reason that it became a 4-1 result is because we chased the game and made poor decisions and poor mistakes.
“The reason we got a 4-1 if we had just kept it tight and kept playing, maybe it would’ve been 2-1 and people would not have been crying so much.
“We can’t do that, we’ve got to go and try to win the game, we’ve got to try and get back into the game.”
Chiefs, who are on position 12 with four points, play Gallants in their next fixture while fifth placed Royal AM face TS Galaxy on Sunday.
