Sekhukhune United have little to be upset even after they were eliminated from the Carling Knockout on Saturday when they went down to Orlando Pirates in Saturday’s quarterfinal, said losing coach Papi Zothwane.
Pirates were 1-0 home winners to stay on course to successfully defend the trophy they won last season as they edged out Sekhukhune for a fourth time this season.
“The game plan that we had today worked until a lapse of concentration,” insisted Zothwane.
“We gave instructions to our players to say, ‘Pirates have got very, very good players in terms of thinking, deciding’ so we needed to delay on a dead ball so that we regrouped but in that moment, we conceded a goal, but we had our moments.
“We had chances where (Chibuike) Ohizu had a one on one. I felt he pushed the ball too far. Pirates didn’t create many chances after halftime, where we did push them a lot in their half but, unfortunately, we didn't score,” added Zothwane.
“They had moments also where they were supposed to score. So overall, it was a good performance from both teams, with high quality of passes but if you give them chances they will punish you. In terms of the commitment, the willingness, taking instructions, I think our team did very, very well .”
It was the fourth time this season that Pirates had beaten Sekhukhune after beating them 4-0 on aggregate in the MTN8 semifinal and also 2-0 at the Orlando Stadium in a league clash in late August.