We can turn this around, insists Mere

Platinum Stars may not have got their Caf Confederation Cup run to a desirable start with a 4-2 defeat to Swaziland’s Mbabane Swallows on Tuesday, but captain Vuyo Mere sees no reason to panic as he believes they can still make it to the semifinals.

Dikwena were taken apart by the Swazi giants as Sabelo Ndzinisa became the home side’s hero, scoring all four goals, while Benson Shilongo hit the net twice from the penalty spot.

The defeat pushed Cavin Johnson’s charges to the bottom of Group B with just a point from two matches. Mere admitted the defeat and said there were no excuses he could put up as having led to the result.

“It was one of those bad days at the office,” Mere said. “We are very disappointed with the result but the effort from the boys was unquestionable.”

Things turned bad when Ndzinisa started his scoring spree as early as the fourth minute. Mere said they can’t hide behind excuses and blame the pitch for the loss.

“We lost. No excuses about that. We played on the same pitch as them,” he said. “We don’t see why we can’t reach next round, we have four more games to play and anything can happen.”

Dikwena’s next match is an away tie against Tunisian giants SC Sfaxien on June 4.

SuperSport United meanwhile got their campaign back on track with an impressive 5-3 win away to Gabon’s CF Mounana, also on Tuesday.