Cape Town - Mamelodi Sundowns' decision to bar their players who are on loan from playing against them for SuperSport United has turned out to be a masterstroke.
Despite enjoying a glut of possession, Sundowns scraped home 1-0 in Monday night's Tshwane Derby at Loftus Versfeld.
In terms of an agreement between the two clubs, the SuperSport trio of Ricardo Goss, Grant Magerman and Thabang Sibanyoni, who are on loan from Sundowns, are ineligible to play against their parent club.
The trio could well have made the difference after SuperSport coach Gavin Hunt said that their absence contributed to him fielding a "patched-up team" against the log leaders.
"I thought we were the better team because we created more (scoring) chances," said Hunt.
"But you got to score against a team like this. We came here with a really patched-up team because a lot of players were out (unavailable for selection).
🗣️ "I can't complain, the players were unbelievable."
— SuperSport Football ⚽️ (@SSFootball) January 16, 2023
Gavin Hunt reacts to his side's #TshwaneDerby loss. pic.twitter.com/Nym3fQxqWm
"There were seven players out from the starting XI. I must commend the players, they just kept going and going.
"You have to put the ball in the net. Obviously, they got a very lucky goal after the ball bounced right, and it fell to the player, so we were a bit unfortunate.
"All in all, I thought we created the better chances. We were good and I can't complain. The players were unbelievable."
Rulani Mokwena, the Sundowns coach, was full of praise for the way Hunt's team had run them close.
"You could have expected what we saw today. There were chances on both sides There was quality on the pitch on both sides and (coach) Gavin Hunt has not won four league titles by chance," said Mokwena, who added that they were not surprised by the make-up of the opposition team.
"The only difference was (Thapelo) Maseko playing with the left foot on the right and normally Gavin likes to have the wide full-back, the wide winger to be able to deliver balls into the box.
"So (Gamphani) Lungu was on the left with a right foot and Maseko was on the right on the opposite side, so they played a little bit inverted.
"We struggled a little bit with Zeida's (Aubrey Modiba) position because his position was for a winger to go on the outside and deliver the cross and not for a winger to come inside and put the ball inside.
"We had to address that a little bit. Also the centre-backs needed to be five or 10 meters a little bit higher up, to provoke the press."
Following this victory, the defending DStv Premiership champions have now won 11 games in a row in the league and extended their lead to 14 points ahead of second-placed Richards Bay.
It will be their warm-up fixture for their clash against Kaizer Chiefs at the FNB Stadium over the weekend.
@Herman_Gibbs