Johannesburg – Playmaker Thuso Phala said SuperSport United are hungry for cup glory after they edged Wits 2-1 to advance to the Telkom Knockout semifinals on Saturday.
“We go into every season looking for silverware, and right now we are only one game away from the final and we are looking forward to the next round,” Phala said.
Cup success has evaded Matsatsantsa at times, with the club having last won a cup competition in 2012 (Nedbank Cup).
Matsatsantsa entered the clash against Wits refocused after their winning streak under coach Gordon Igesund came to an abrupt end in a 4-1 Premiership defeat to Mariztburg United.
At the Bidvest Stadium though their returned to winning ways as Lebogang Manyama’s powerful 64th minute strike was the decider, after first half goals by Dove Wome for United and Chris Katongo for Wits.
Phala believed the humbling loss last week was a blessing in disguise for Matsatsantsa.
“We got the loss at a right time. I think it was a wake-up call for us. We’ve been on a roll and we started to relax going into games. In the end it was good for us.”
Igesund said his players did well to get the win over coach Gavin Hunt’s tactically disciplined Clever Boys.
“It was a tough 90 minutes when playing against a team like Wits is always tough. I was really pleased with the performance from my players who got stuck in and passed the ball around nicely.”
However, the former Bafana Bafana coach said there were certain aspects of the game his team needed to improve.
“I wanted us to keep the ball more. When we cleared the ball out, our defenders were too deep at the back. That meant that we had a gap between the defence and midfield that’s where they nearly hurt us.”
Hunt felt hard done by the opening goal which came in the second minute after Wits were caught out on the counter.
“It’s disappointing to lose like that with the first goal being off-side. All credit to them, they took their chances. We didn’t and the first goal was really a killer for us.”
The difference between the teams was that United were more clinical in front of goal, he said.
“I thought we came back well in the first half we had most of the play and didn’t make it count. We have been scoring enough goals. We need to be getting goals from other areas of the pitch which we are not doing.”
It was more heartbreak for Wits and back to the drawing board, he said. “We have to take it on the chin and bounce back.” – Sapa