Online Reporter
Blessing Malinganiza, Zimpapers Sports Hub
AmaZulu coach Arthur Zwane has hailed Zimbabwean striker Thandolwenkosi Ngwenya’s goalscoring form but warned his side against becoming overly dependent on the forward.
Ngwenya continued his impressive start to the 2026/27 Betway Premiership season by scoring against Mamelodi Sundowns, extending his scoring run to four consecutive league matches.
Ngwenya’s latest goal came despite AmaZulu suffering a 5-2 defeat to the defending champions, but Zwane believes Ngwenya could have made an even bigger impact last season had injury not disrupted his campaign.
“There’s no doubt about it. Even last season, if you check, if he did not get the injury, I think he was going to help us big time,” said Zwane.
“Unfortunately, he missed about two and a half months of the season when we needed him the most. He was already on six goals, and he also had a lot of one-v-ones earlier on in the season where he did not take those chances.”
Zwane believes Ngwenya’s scoring tally could have been significantly higher before the injury brought his campaign to a premature halt.
“I even said to them last season, before he got injured, he could have easily been on 12, if not 14 already. And it’s good to see him scoring goals,” he said.
However, the AmaZulu coach warned that the club cannot afford to rely solely on Ngwenya for goals, particularly with the striker having already experienced injury problems.
“The only worrying factor is it can be only him that scores for us. Others, they also have to take responsibility. You can’t rely on him because should he get injured again, then we’re going to have a problem,” Zwane said.
Ngwenya’s importance to the AmaZulu attack was further underlined against Sundowns when he began struggling with cramps late in the match.
Zwane admitted the situation presented a difficult decision, with the club lacking another forward currently capable of providing the same goalscoring threat.
“Towards the end of the game, he started cramping, and that was a worrying factor from our side,” he said.
“Sometimes you want to take him out, but you look at who can give you goals, and we don’t have another prolific striker like him at the moment.”
Zwane said AmaZulu have other attacking options, but some players are still working their way back after missing a significant portion of pre-season preparations.
“We do have others, but they’re still coming because they missed half of the pre-season preparations,” he said.
“So, we’re just hoping that probably after the Fifa calendar, we’ll have everyone available and we’ll have a pool of players to select from.”
For Ngwenya, the immediate challenge is to maintain his scoring form while avoiding another injury setback.
“I hope to see myself keep improving and score as many goals as I can. But I hope goals will help my team collect maximum points.
