We played this match at the back of a good turnaround where we won and draw our previous two encounters against Baroka and Polokwane City respectively. The opponent was in great form and had just drawn their previous encounter. It was indeed a very difficult match and we needed to put up a plan in two days to deal with the powerful attack. Our team responded very well to the challenges and great threats known from the opponent. Our defensive work dealt very well with their crossing game and long diagonal balls played to their attackers who were positioned far out wide and the central threat of their two tens. We Med due adjustments in time and nullified the threat. We tried to avoid too many free kick and corners in and around the box but due to the nature of the game, we conceded a lot of those however we dealt with them very well. We needed more conviction in the final third. The lack of courage did affect our final third entry and consistent penetration. The first half was tight, with far and between chances, as a result no goal was scored.
The second half started well though the opponent looked the better right at the beginning of second. We collected our thoughts and got ourselves back in the game. We kept same structure and good tactical discipline and provided all solutions except that we needed to ask them more questions in our final third. A few opportunities started coming through from both sides but they were not as close or clear to be buried or scored. Mutizwa had a few rare moments where he could have opened the score, once the ball played on his back as he was about to break away, the other was a lame to the keeper who made an easy catch before he could later get a free kick at a good position but also sent it straight into the keeper’s hands. We kept the team unchanged for for almost 85 minutes when we started making a change (Venter in for Parusnath, Sibeko for Mtshali). The match 90 minutes regulation time was over and were in 4 minutes additional time. Two minutes were gone already and the match done and great application displayed, the opponent made a cross from the right, we failed to defend as expected, the keeper pulled a safe, on rebound, the opponent scored 0:1 and we lost the match with the last kick of the ball. Great application and resilience, not too much courage in the final third and lapse of concentration, the match was lost.
