SuperSport United coach Kaitano Tembo has explained the reason behind their patchy first stanza against Orlando Pirates after on Wednesday night.
Matsatsantsa did not have a shot on target in the first stanza, as Pirates had the upper hand after Vincent Pule gave them an early lead in the tenth minute.
SuperSport came to life in the second stanza, as a powerful strike by Ghampani Lungu forced an own goal from Ben Motshwari.
"Look same as the game against Chiefs, we didn't really have a good start defensively, we looked shaky, we didn't manage our distances properly," Tembo told SuperSport after the match.
"We knew that they would want to spin and get the space behind, we allowed them to play in between our lines and the goal which we conceded, soft goal.
"Second-half we were better, we had more width, especially when we brought in [Guily] Manziba, he gave us speed going forward, a bit of quality on the ball which we lacked in the first-half.
"'Kuda' [Mahachi] in the first-half could not even get on the ball because he could not find space but overall I think a game of two halves, which I felt maybe we could've got a penalty, I'm not sure, from where I was standing I thought it was a penalty. But I think 1-1 is a fair result," he said.
"We knew [Pirates' plans] but sometimes it's about the players, you have to implement that, when you're not switched on the opponent takes advantage of that, but we have to continue working and focus on our next game."
Tembo explained that the introduction of Teboho Mokoena and Guily Manziba, who have both been out for a lengthy period, in the second stanza improved them a lot, as they put Pirates under more pressure.
"I thought 'Tebza' [Teboho Mokoena] gave a little bit more energy in midfield, which we didn't have with Lucky [Mohomi] and Sipho [Mbule], Sipho plays a very slow pace, sometimes it doesn't allow us to go forward as quick as we want to because he slows things down.
"That's why we couldn't come out of our defensive third because of our slow build-up, we couldn't find our forward players as quick as we can and joining up, Sipho and Lucky were not doing that because we wanted one of them to get closer to the strikers and they were not doing that.
"Also on the sides, 'Kuda' could not get on the ball, Jones [Lungu] was losing balls cheaply but second-half it was far much better when we had Guily, he brought us quality which we didn't have, you could see he got behind [Paseka] Mako a couple of times but I could see he got tired because he has not been playing for close to six months, as well as 'Tebza', he's been out for quite some time but it's good to have them back they will give us more options going forward," he added.
