THANDA Royal Zulu head coach Roger Sikhakhane says he is not looking to go far in the Nedbank Cup this season.
Thanda retained their unbeaten record in the National First Division when they drew 0-0 with neighbours AmaZulu in a KwaZulu-Natal derby played at Umlazi’s King Zwelithini Stadium on Sunday.
Amabhubesi are five points ahead of the second placed Stellenbosch, their opponents in the preliminary round of the Nedbank Cup. The draw was made in Joburg yesterday.
The entire group of 16 NFD teams will battle it out for a place in the Last 32 of the Nedbank Cup.
Eight NFD teams will join 16 from the Absa Premiership and another eight will come in from the ABC Motsepe League. Last season Thanda were eliminated in the preliminary round by AmaZulu.
Sikhakhane said his main focus this season was to make sure they win promotion. He has made it clear that this season, he is prepared to sacrifice playing in the Nedbank Cup for NFD honours at the end of the campaign.
“Our main goal is to win the league. That is why I won’t focus much on the Nedbank Cup. The league is more important,” said Sikhakhane.
The former Chippa United mentor also said he was happy with the way things turned out in their KZN derby against Usuthu.
“We are happy with an away point. Now our focus has shifted to the next match. We are playing Jomo Cosmos next at home on Sunday. We need to collect maximum points,” he added.
Under-pressure AmaZulu coach Joey Antipas was just happy to avoid another defeat, rather than being worried about the Nedbank Cup.
Usuthu were drawn away to Cape Town based Santos.
The derby was the second in a row for AmaZulu and Antipas was very relieved that his charges didn’t lose. AmaZulu were beaten 2-0 by their other NFD neighbours Real Kings United in the other derby.
“A point is good considering we were playing a quality team. They are on form and doing well so far this season. We will take this point, it’s good for us. But we really need to start collecting maximum points now,” said Antipas.
