Gordon Igesund watched SuperSport United hammer Maritzburg United 4-1 at the Lucas Moripe Stadium on Wednesday night.
While the result was the kind to send any opposition trembling with fear, the Highlands Park coach would also have spotted some weaknesses in Stuart Baxter's team that he will want his team to exploit when Matsatsantsa a Pitori arrive in Tembisa on Saturday (8.15pm).
For one, the multiple championship-winning coach would have observed how SuperSport struggled when Mandla Masango was denied the ball.
Another observation the former Bafana Bafana coach would have taken home is the fact that any team that manage to cut out Reneilwe Letsholonyane's distribution has half the battle won against SuperSport.
That Maritzburg were hammered the way they were was because they only succeeded on these two fronts momentarily, the Team of Choice doing a good job of it only in the first half and duly lead 1-0 at half-time.
Igesund will want the Lions of the North to maintain such a stranglehold on SuperSport for the entire match.
But Baxter, who heard after the match that Igesund had come to spy, was not bothered.
“Roger (De Sa) was there when we played against Free State Stars, but he didn’t learn anything from that encounter now, did he?,” Baxter chuckled.
All of SuperSport’s four goals against Maritzburg came in the second period during which they looked much better than in the first half. Baxter was pleased with how his side played after half-time and singled Masango out for special praise.
“He (Masango) did well when he came back into the starting line-up,” Baxter said. “And I’m not saying this just because he scored two goals. But he really did play well.”
Masango said he was pleased to have registered his first two goals for Matsatsantsa and stressed how important it was for him to remain consistent. “It felt really good smashing in those two goals, mainly because we went into the second period trailing,” said Masango, who walked away with the man-of-the-match accolade.
“We came out guns blazing and ended up scoring four. We should have scored more. But for me, it’s important not to dwell on this result and the performancehere. My focus is already set on our next game. We take on Highlands and they’ll be fired up for a win. It’s up to us to fight for a similar result too.”