Disappointed Maritzburg turn their focus to AmaZulu and Pirates

Maritzburg United skipper Denis Weidlich says he and his teammates are focusing on another strong Premier Soccer League finish after the disappointment of failing to reach a first cup final.

Maritzburg had a strong chance to get to the MTN8 final after a 1-1 draw away with SuperSport United in the first leg of their semifinal but botched it at home on Saturday night in the return match‚ going down 2-0.

“We are focused on a top eight finish again because we did it last season‚" the German-born Ghanaian said.

"For us anything below top eight is not what we are looking for.

“We are working on that and we hope we finish like last season.”

Maritzburg have now turned their focus to a derby match with AmaZulu in Durban on Tuesday and a home game against Orlando Pirates at the Harry Gwala stadium on Friday night.

Weidlich was bitterly disappointed with the cup exit.

“We started the game very strong but‚ in the end‚ little mistakes killed us‚" he said.

"We knew how strong SuperSport would be‚ particularly (Jeremy) Brockie.

"We tried to fight back but SuperSport are not a small team.

"They knew how to defend‚ they were patient and then they hit us again with a second goal.

"The only thing we can do is learn from it for next time.

"Now it’s important to keep our heads up and be ready for that.”

But the utility back admitted it would be hard to bounce back against AmaZulu on Tuesday.

“Don’t forget we were in a semifinal and we wanted to get to the final and make history.

"Our young players will need time to recover from the defeat.

"The good thing is we have our families at home around us and that’s the good thing now‚ to recover and bounce back for the game against AmaZulu.” - TimesLIVE

Source: TMG Digital.