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PRETORIA. — SuperSport United head coach, Kaitano Tembo, was pleased with the impact Guily Manziba and Teboho Mokoena’s impact in the second half against Orlando Pirates.
Pirates were all over SuperSport, in the first half and first 15 minutes of the second period, and really should have put their Absa league match, to bed on Wednesday.
And after riding their luck, Tembo’s men grabbed an equaliser as Ben Motshwari put the ball into his own net, when trying to clear Ghampani Lungu’s effort, off the line.
“I think the same, as the game against Chiefs, we didn’t have a good start defensively,’’ said Tembo whose team had a huge Zimbabwean influence.
Onismor Bhasera started at leftback, Kuda Mahachi played in midfield and Evans Rusike in attack.
“We were looking shaky. We didn’t manage our distances properly. We knew they would want to spin and get the space behind. We allowed them to play between our lines.
“And, the goal which we conceded, soft goal.
‘’But, I think second half, we were much better. We had more width, especially when we brought in (Guily) Manziba.
“He gave us more speed going forward and a bit of quality on the ball which we lacked in the first half.
“Kuda in the first half (couldn’t even really get on the ball because he couldn’t find space).
“Overall, a game of two halves. I thought, maybe, we could have got a penalty there but I’m not so sure. From where I was standing I thought it was a penalty. But overall a 1-1 is a fair result.’’
He praised the impact of his substitutions Guily Manziba and Teboho Mokoena.
“I thought Tebs gave us a bit more energy in midfield which we didn’t have with Lucky and Sipho,” said the Zimbabwean tactician.
“Sipho plays at a very slow pace and sometimes he doesn’t allow us to go forward as quickly as we want to because he slows things down.
“And, that’s why we couldn’t really come out of our defensive third because of our slow build-up.
“We couldn’t find our forward players as quick as we can. And, joining up as well Lucky and Sipho were not doing that, we needed one of them to get closer to the strikers.
“Second half was better when we brought Guily. He gave us that quality. He got behind Mako a lot of times.
“I knew that he was tired a little bit because he hasn’t played in six months. As well as Tebza. But it’s good to see them back. And I think they will give us more options going forward.” — KickOff.com
Online Reporter