Royals out to put skids under the Buckley threat

TEMBU Royals coach Lwandile Magula has picked out former Bafana Bafana international and Maritzburg United midfielder Delron Buckley as the dangerman in their muchanticipated Nedbank Cup last 16 clash against the seasoned Premier Soccer League campaigners tonight.

The game is scheduled to kick off at 8pm at the new Mthatha Stadium.

“He [Buckley] will be their obviously because of his vast said Magula yesterday.

“We have to neutralise him as most of their goals come either from his crosses or passes. I am convinced we have just the right plan to stop him.

“We have to make sure that we force him to play the ball backwards so that we nullify the threat.”

However he said he was still convinced that his charges would run out comfortable winners at the end of the game.

Magula will lead his National Second Division side as they look to continue their impressive giant-killing act after the Mthatha-based side caused one of the biggest upsets in Nedbank Cup history when they beat AmaZulu in the last 32 clash, and in the process booking a date with United.

Their fairytale run in the competition almost came to a grinding halt however when AmaZulu launched an urgent protest accusing Royals of fielding an improperly registered player, Zukisa Ginya.

However, the PSL gave the Royals versus main threat experience,” United game the go-ahead after dismissing AmaZulu’s claims.

A bullish Magula said his team was never perturbed by the claims and had remained focused on their clash against Maritzburg United.

“The mood has always been the same even though there was a protest.”

The coach even went as far as predicting that his charges would win 3-0.

“We are looking at scoring an early goal just to calm our nerves down. I think we will manage to score two goals in the first half and another in the second half,” said Magula.

He said his team had done its homework on their opponents who he described as having a similar style to AmaZulu in that they focused on keeping possession of the ball.

On the other hand, Royals has always been an attack-minded team and Magula said his team will look at putting the visitors under constant pressure from the first whistle.

“We have noticed that their defence is slow and cannot deal with one-on-one situations. We will try to capitalise on using the quick pace of our forwards to create those situations. We are not worried by their frontline as they tend to play more with a target man who is always playing with his back to goals,” he added.

The game was scheduled to be played on Sunday last weekend but was postponed following the protest by AmaZulu.

Tickets for the Maritzburg game were reportedly sold out by last week prompting the need for more tickets to be printed.

A win for Royals tonight will see them meet three-times PSL champs and cup specialists SuperSport United in the quarters on April 13 in Mthatha. —