Drained SuperSport burgle victory

Kaitano Tembo praised the courage shown by his team, as they picked up a vital 1-0 Absa Premiership win at Bidvest Wits on Friday evening.

The game was Matsatsantsa’s fourth in 10 days in all competitions, while the Clever Boys had a full five days rest after getting through to the group stages of the Caf Confederation Cup. Yet while Gavin Hunt’s Wits dominated much of the game, it was SuperSport who found a late sucker punch, Sipho Mbule (right) heading in to move Matsatsantsa above Wits into third in the table, though they trail league leaders Kaizer Chiefs by 11 points.

“To be honest, this game, the players won it,” Tembo told SuperSport TV after the match.

“If I look back at what we have been through, and the effort we put in today, it was well deserved. Today was all about heart, we played Tuesday and Friday again, and they are well rested … I said to them one final push, and then they can rest. It was all about their fight and effort.”

Hunt was not too unhappy, even though his side lost, with Wits playing some sparkling football at times, let down only by poor finishing.

“I think we did ok, we played well, if you understand football we should have won that game by a country mile,” said the Wits coach.

“They offered nothing and won 1-0. They stuck at it and kept going, but we can’t miss the chances that we had, with the opportunities we had the score could have been anything.

“I can’t fault them (my players), we were on the front foot, we pinned them back, I don’t think they (SuperSport) offered anything but they won the game. Gift (Motupa) got four on Sunday (in the Caf Confederation Cup), today he could have got six … that is football but we will come back … stronger and keep battling.”