A very tough match away to an opponent, with a good squad but who’s been struggling to get results. This match was played after we lost to MSFC in the semifinals of the Telkom Cup. The level of our moral was at our lowest but we quickly needed to restore it. We had a fairly balanced match with far and few chances. We struggled to find our playing rhythm. We lost too many balls in possession. We couldn’t dominate the match as we used to. Each time we fail to hit our rhythm of play, it affects our confidence. We were threatened several times by the opponent but managed to defend well. We had deployed two strikers and it was clear, it did affect our midfield fluidity. The suspension to Phiri also posed a threat in midfield dominance. We ended the first half 0:0 and we had to resolve and reorganize our attack. We introduced Chonco for Gumede and we looked better. The opponent was threatening during corner kicks and we survived the scare. Deep in the second the referee awarded a penalty against us, through insistence from the first assistant. The opponent missed the chance. We scored in the 84th minute when Venter struck a brilliant in swinging free kick from a wide position. The balls went directly into the net untouched and it was 0:1 with five minutes to go. The opponent also missed a last minute chance as we defended with our lives. We won the match 0:1 and kept our position 3 on the log after 12 matches, having collected 10 points out of twelve. Our next mission is in Thohoyandou against B. Leopards in two days.
