Arrows aiming for revenge

Minenhle.Mkhize@inl.co.za

LAMONTVILLE Golden Arrows clash with Baroka FC at Princess Magogo Stadium in KwaMashu today (3pm) in the Absa Premiership looking to avenge the defeat they suffered at the expense of Bakgakga in the Telkom Knockout.

The memories of that loss are still fresh for Abafana Bes’thende but they now have the advantage of playing at home.

Coach at Arrows, Clinton Larsen, talked about that Baroka defeat when he spoke with the media this week.

“Yes, they beat us but we made 10 changes. We knew we weren’t going there at full strength. We played none of our players that played in the league.

“Our expectations to beat them on the day weren’t as high as they would be had we put out our strongest team. Credit to them, they took advantage of us not being at full strength. We took a huge risk to rest a number of players. All the players that beat Black Leopards (prior to that game) were rested,” Larsen said.

Abafana Bes’thende will be at full strength today but they won’t find it easy against the Limpopo-based side who are on a high having dumped the defending league champions, Mamelodi Sundowns, out of the Knockout last week.

So Arrows will have to be at their best to earn maximum points and avenge that defeat.

Larsen is pleased his troops are starting to find momentum in the league. “We are starting to find consistency. When that happens you don’t make too many changes in your team. That Cup game we lost against Baroka gave us an opportunity to field some of the boys who have been working hard but haven’t had much game time.”

Arrows are unbeaten in their last five league matches – sharing the spoils with SuperSport, Free State Stars, Chippa United and Pirates, and getting the better of Black Leopards.

“We are coming good towards the end of this first round and hopefully this will happen for the remainder of the league. It is important for us to be a stable top 8 team. We don’t want to be a team where one season you are in the top 8 and the following season you are fighting relegation.” Abafana Bes’thende have been in the top 8 for the past three seasons under the tutelage of Larsen.

“We’d love to take another step up like Maritzburg United and Cape Town City have done. We want to break into that top 5, top 6 bracket.”