Blessing Mchunu of Golden Arrows challenged by Kganyana Letsoenyo of TS Galaxy during the Betway Premiership match at Mpumalanga Stadium. BackpagePix
Golden Arrows co-coach Musa Bilankulu has aired on the side of positivity despite his side dropping points at home against TS Galaxy on Saturday.
The two teams could not be separated at the Mpumalanga Stadium and had to share the points having provided an entertaining display.
Abafana Bes’thende stretched their unbeaten run in the Betway Premiership to six games with four wins and two draws in that period.
The Lamontville-based outfit currently hold sixth spot on the log and are beaming with interest to secure a place in the top eight when the 2024/2025 concludes in a few months.
⏪ 🅸🅲🆈🅼🅸 ⏪
— SABC Sport (@SABC_Sport) January 19, 2025
Golden Arrows and TS Galaxy played to a 1⃣➖1⃣ draw in the #BetwayPrem encounter on Saturday!#SABCSportFootball pic.twitter.com/yfRvrMv5EZ
Arrows’ resurgence under Bilankulu and Dikgacoi has gathered huge interest in recent weeks and the side’s ability to keep four clean sheets in the last five games has also bolstered their chances of winning football matches.
Bilankulu, who has held the ropes alongside Kagiso Dikgagcoi on the Arrows bench, expressed slight dejection at his side’s failure to secure a valuable three point on home ground after their impressive showing against Kaizer Chiefs in their previous outing.
“It’s not a disappointment even though we wanted to win, maximum points would’ve helped us close the gap on Cape Town City,” he said
“We wanted all of the points but also to replicate our performance against Kaizer Chiefs last time out.
“Taking into account that Galaxy are a dangerous team in attack, yes we wanted to win because it was a home game and we didn’t but I believe the boys will grow from this.”
The race for a top eight spot is likely to be the most contested in the upcoming months with just eight points separating fifth-placed Cape Town City and Marumo Gallants in 13th with some teams banking on games on hand.
⏪ 🅸🅲🆈🅼🅸 ⏪
— SABC Sport (@SABC_Sport) January 19, 2025
Golden Arrows and TS Galaxy played to a 1⃣➖1⃣ draw in the #BetwayPrem encounter on Saturday!#SABCSportFootball pic.twitter.com/yfRvrMv5EZ
Arrows are in a decent position heading into the cup week and still have a lot of work to do if they are to secure a place in next season’s MTN8, a competition they’ve won in the past.
Next on their agenda is the tough matter of a Chippa United side in the Nedbank Cup, a team who have their recently departed coach Mabhuti Khenyeza on the bench as an assistant coach.
The two sides meet next Saturday in Hammarsdale and Bilankulu has set his sights on helping Arrows emerge as one of the underdogs to win the competition.
When quizzed about the prospect of rotating his team in the cup game, Bilankulu emphasised the importance of continually building the chemistry between his starting players.
“I don’t think so because we need to keep the momentum, the team is in sync now, unless of course we have forced changes of suspensions and injuries but we have to keep the same team so we can grow and see where we can improve.
“We’re taking the cup very seriously, it’s an opportunity for us to compete for silverware so we need to keep pushing and overcoming our shortcomings.”