Pretoria – Black Leopards coach Ian Palmer was relieved to get back to winning ways after his outfit beat the University of Pretoria 2-1 in a Premiership clash in Pretoria on Saturday.
Lidoda Duvha were given a 4-0 hiding by Orlando Pirates in a midweek clash but picked themselves up and claimed their third win of the season on a wet Tuks Stadium pitch.
“It's never easy coming to Tuks. They have shown their worth in this league and that's why they have 17 points,” Palmer said.
“We got the late penalty, and it's three points, so we aren't going to complain.
“It was also good coming from the 4-0 drubbing by Pirates. It's just a confidence booster going ahead into our next game.”
Rodney Ramagalela scored a brace after a dramatic injury-time penalty, with referee Jerome Damon spotting a handball in the Tuks area.
The striker lifted his league tally to six goals this season, and while Palmer admitted it had been a challenge for Ramagalela to find his form, he was delighted with the forward's efforts.
“It was a battle at first. He (Ramagalela) was off form so we gave him a week off,” Palmer said.
“He was back for us against Pirates after his break and we thought he could do better, and he repaid us today.”
Meanwhile, AmaTuks boss Steve Barker was encouraged by his side's performance, despite the loss.
He said the Premiership newcomers, who have gone four games without a win after a superb start to their top-flight campaign, would need to learn from their mistakes.
“If the performance was poor then I would say that it was unacceptable, but I thought the performance deserved more than what we got out of the game,” Barker said.
“There is always room for improvement. Some of the players have only played 12 games in the Premiership, against some players who have 150 or 200 games in the Premiership.
“Obviously we want to turn it around and we want to win at home but we have to keep working hard, plugging away and keep on creating as many chances as we have.
“This loss has to hurt the players, because they didn't deserve the loss, but once things hurt, hopefully you can learn from it quickly.”
Elsewhere on Saturday, log-leaders Kaizer Chiefs went down in their first defeat of the season when they lost 2-0 to high-flying Platinum Stars in Phokeng.
Maritzburg United handed Moroka Swallows their second successive loss when they beat the Soweto outfit 3-1 in Dobsonville, Free State Stars defeated strugglers AmaZulu 1-0 in Durban, and Orlando Pirates beat Wits 2-0 at Orlando Stadium. – Sapa