Durban - SuperSport United coach Kaitano Tembo was satisfied that his side managed to deal with the threat of Maritzburg United following their 1-0 win over the Team of Choice in a Nedbank Cup Last 32 clash at the Harry Gwala Stadium in Pietermaritzburg on Wednesday night.
The game looked destined for extra time before Iqraam Rayners broke Maritzburg hearts with a peach of a goal in the 88th minute.
“We had a good start. We dealt with their threat which was the long ball. We gathered from the second ball and pushed forward. We were making runs behind the three centre backs (Ryan) Rae, Alfred (Ndengane) and Clayton Daniels,” said Tembo.
Without the presence of Teboho Mokoena who has now joined Sundowns and Sipho Mbule whose situation with SuperSport remains uncertain, their midfield was evidently lacking spark and there were portions of the game where Maritzburg were the better team.
“In the second half, things changed. They dominated in midfield. We knew when we were coming here that we would need to work a little bit more and suffer a bit to get a result. I was happy with Iqraam, he had two good chances in the first half but he never gave up and kept going, hence he scored a good goal. Today we showed character which is the cornerstone of our team,” said Tembo.
Tembo also had to make do without the presence of experienced and injury prone strike duo Bradley Grobler and Thamsanqa Gabuza who are an essential part of his team’s attack.
“Missing Grobler and Gabuza is obviously tough but at the same time it gives an opportunity to the other guys to step up. Iqraam just needs to keep on working hard. There are goals in him and a bit of consistency will see him going a long way. He is a good striker and gives us a bit of speed going forward. He just needs to be a bit calm in the final third,” said Tembo.
SuperSport will again be in action against Maritzburg United next Tuesday, this time in a league clash. Matsatsantsa are currently sixth in the Premiership standings but just four points adrift of second place Orlando Pirates.
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