PRETORIA – A commanding performance at the Lucas Moripe Stadium on Sunday saw SuperSport United hammer Barrack Young Controllers 5-0 to book their place in the CAF Confederation Cup group phase with a 6-1 aggregate win.
It was an impressive and no doubt morale-boosting performance from a SuperSport side that had gone into the match on the back of a 5-0 league drubbing at the hands of Mamelodi Sundowns just three days earlier.
Key to the victory was a hat-trick by Jeremy Brockie, as well as a five star all-round showing by Thabo Mnyamane, who also got on the scoresheet, as did Fagrie Lakay.
Following last weekend’s 1-1 draw in Liberia, the South Africans got off to the perfect start on Sunday evening in Tshwane when with only three minutes played when right back Tebogo Mokoena crossed for Mnyamane, who brought down the ball and finished clinically.
SuperSport continued to dictate matters and were close to netting again when Aubrey Modiba flashed a header just wide from Mnyamane’s cross, before Brockie came close to capitalising on an error in the Barrack Young Controllers (BYC) rearguard.
But Brockie was to double the lead on 32 minutes with a simple finish after a strong run by the impressive Mnyamane.
The west African side were given hope when David Tweh curled a shot into the woodwork shortly after the start of the second half.
But any thoughts of a fightback were squashed in the 53rd minute when Brockie played a one-two with Mnyamane before firing the ball home to make it 3-0.
⚽️⚽️⚽️ @JRBrockie #CCC pic.twitter.com/0qFlnYAyrJ
— SuperSport United FC (@SuperSportFC) April 16, 2017
From there on, it was one-way traffic for SuperSport as Brockie completed his hat-trick with a 63rd-minute penalty after Modiba had been fouled, before Lakay added the fifth goal with a tap-in from close range in the 67th minute.
And it could even have been more had the home side not missed several chances in the closing stages of the match.
SuperSport coach Stuart Baxter and his men will now await the draw for the group phase, which is scheduled to kick off on the weekend of May 10-12.