Royal Eagles head coach Phuti Mohafe felt the introduction of Khama Billiat was key to Kaizer Chiefs getting the win on Saturday evening.
The GladAfrica Championship side were dumped out of the Nedbank Cup in the round of 32 after a 1-0 loss to the Soweto giants.
Chiefs only got their goal in the second half, but Mohafe admits his players suffered from cramps.
"A good game of football, we started by defending deep and waiting for them, denying them those spaces behind the defence, denying them the spaces in front of goals, hoping to catch them on a counter," Mohafe told SuperSport TV.
"We did so, they missed us in several occasions, we should have scored, they should have scored in the first half. But first-half mission accomplished, we just wanted to frustrate them a bit, we did that. We accomplished that.
"And we see how good can we defend against Chiefs and we take it to the league. Second-half, just a bit of the boys cramping but you still need to say because they're cramping, what do I do next?
"Can you change the plan? You can't change the plan because whenever they are cramping, it means they are going to leave those spaces we're denying Chiefs," he went on.
"Okay, fair enough, they brought in [Khama] Billiat with the speed and they catch us with the speed behind the defence, that's how they scored.
"I can't blame the boys for the effort, they gave a good account of themselves and for us, a blessing in disguise, we'll concentrate more on the league."
