SuperSport United coach Kaitano Tembo is of the view that a poor first half is the reason they could not beat Kaizer Chiefs at the weekend. He felt that the introduction of Thamsanqa Gabuza and Kudakwashe Mahachi helped change the game for them.
SuperSport had to rely on a penalty, converted by Bradley Grobler, to secure a 1-all draw against Chiefs on Saturday. Gabuza who won the penalty after he was fouled by Akumu Agay.
Gabuza replaced Evans Rusike at half time. Mahachi entered the fray for Lucky Mohomi nine minutes before the end of the first half.
“Our first half was very poor. We didn’t come to play. We were always second on the ball, they won all the second balls and that disadvantaged us. We couldn’t come out of our defensive block. Second half we got better when we brought on Gabuza," said Tembo.
“He gave us a lot of options in terms of putting their defence under pressure. That allowed us to play and our midfielder also joined in. Kuda [Mahachi] also gave us width on the left. Kuda played very well. He kept on troubling [Siyabonga] Ngezana and delivered some good crosses."
The SuperSport coach also shed some light on the decision to substitute Mohomi in the first half.
“The change was tactical. Lucky wasn’t really giving us much. He lacked energy in terms of our press. He was always slow, especially to gather the second ball. That’s why we had to bring Jamie Webber a little bit more inside and have [an] out-and-out winger in Kuda," Tembo explained.
Tembo also expressed his happiness at having Congolese attacker Guily Manziba back in the set-up after he was on the sidelines for about five months. Manziba, 24, was introduced for Ghampani Lungu in the 68th minute.
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