Johannesburg – Despite Tuesday's hard-fought 1-0 victory over provincial rivals the University of Pretoria, SuperSport United coach Gavin Hunt believes his side still lack the killer instinct required to close out more Premiership encounters.
Matsatsantsa grabbed a late Mogogi Gabonamong goal in the 76th minute at the Lucas Moripe Stadium in Atteridgeville, helping United leapfrog Tuks into eighth position with 11 games to play, securing a spot in the top half of the table for the first time this year.
A dull affair for most of the contest, Hunt said he was less than impressed with his side's first half performance, but was nevertheless pleased to walk away with maximum points.
“The first half was poor, we haven't played our best here at home (Lucas Moripe Stadium in Atteridgeville), the games have been hard to watch,” Hunt said.
“But the teams that have come here have been very compact and they sit it and it's very difficult to break them down.
“Our final pass and our final ball has let us down. The synergy's not there, the fluency's not there, we are working our socks off and the players have been magnificent.”
With the Premiership approaching it's latter stages, Hunt said the team would focus on claiming as many points as possible from the remaining fixtures, in order to cement their place in the top half of the log.
“This time of the season, it's not about how we win, it's just about winning.”
“We need to get ourselves up the league, but I think the top three or four are gone now. Nobody is going to catch them, so there are pretty much four spots for about six teams in the top eight.”
Meanwhile, AmaTuks boss Steve Barker said he was disappointed to concede late in the game, admitting that a defensive blunder was to blame for the goal.
“Unfortunately we seemed to fall asleep with the goal. You can't really excuse that we didn't go with the runner for the goal,” Barker said.
“We knew SuperSport would be dangerous on set-pieces. It was the one area that we knew we had to be on our toes.
“I thought we were solid defensively. Just the one set-piece we didn't defend well, besides that, I was happy with the back five.”
Barker added that his young outfit fared well throughout the game, but lacked up front, where goals have been in short supply since the league resumed in the new year, with only a single goal from their last four outings.
“Obviously it's disappointing. It was a very tight game, I don't think either team created many opportunities.”
“We need to be a bit more ruthless in front of goal and look to create a bit more.
“But I do feel there were patches in the game that we were on top of them, we looked threatening and it looked like we could break them down before they actually scored.”
In Tuesday's only other fixture, Moroka Swallows rallied from two goals down to edge rivals Orlando Pirates 3-2 in a Soweto derby at the Dobsonville Stadium. – Sapa