Santos working on their precision passes

SANTOS hope to find top form in attack when they face Witbank Spurs away in the NFD on Saturday.

The People’s Team have scored seven goals in their five games this season, but have looked disjointed in their last two outings.

In September’s 3-3 draw against Cape Town All Stars and Saturday’s 1-0 loss to Stellenbosch FC, Santos offered little besides long passes through or over the opposition back four. Santos head coach, Zeca Marques, says he is not too concerned and believes the tactic will work out.

“We try to stick to the principles of our philosophy; play possession football and not give the ball away, wait for the right moment to punish the opposition, read the situation in the game and take advantage,” he said.

“Having said that, we were not as direct against Stellenbosch as we were against Cape Town All Stars. We battled in the final third, but the rest I’m not too concerned with – we have been doing well there. It’s just getting right those penetrating passes in the last third that we have to work on.”

Santos had success with the tactic against All Stars, but two of the goals came in the dying minutes of the match and all three were scored against the weakest defence in the league.

Against Stellenbosch on Saturday, Santos had less joy and didn’t register a single shot on target during the first half.

The majority of passes played to the wingers and strikers were long, attempted through balls which seldom found their mark and often left the front men chasing lost causes.

Santos were reduced to 10 men in the 44th minute when Ashley Hartog received his second yellow card, but looked a much improved side in the second half when they committed to shorter passing and once Iqraam Rayners was introduced at right back.

“Obviously when Iqie (Rayners) came on, his pace on the wing really gave us the impetus going forward,” Marques said.

“He was more aggressive, he had more space on the wing and he was influential.

“Before he came on we were just too loose, we played down the middle too much and we couldn’t find the end result in terms of penetrating passes behind the defence.”