Cape Town - Christmas came early for 10-men Cape Town City who took a first-half hammering but recovered well in the second half to run out eventual 2-1 winners after a stunning late goal by Mpho Makola against Swallows at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday evening.
The left half Makola was overlooked for the Man of the Match award, which was awarded to City goalkeeper Hugo Marques, the Angolan international. City coach Eric Tinkler felt the accolade should have gone to the 35-year-old Makola.
At the post-match interview, Tinkler said he was disappointed that the team did not execute what was decided for Saturday's match.
"I was not very happy with our first-half performance," said Tinkler. "In my pre-match interview, I spoke about the importance of playing with high intensity especially at home.
"I had asked the team to play with grit, play with aggression, and look to dictate. We didn’t do that in the first 25 to 30 minutes.
"Normally our pressing strategy is to apply a high press right from the beginning. That way we put the opposition under pressure but we didn’t do that either.
"They were allowed to come out very easily through the phases into our half. We were always reactive, never proactive, always reactive to everything they were doing.
"Because we were reactive, they created the chances that they created. Our goalkeeper (Marques) made some fantastic saves, but we still gifted them a goal. Before that, we lost possession and our build-up work was sloppy. After that they go 1-0 up and unfortunately, we lose (Abbubaker) Mobara just before the beak.
Tactically that changed eventing because we were now down to 10 men."
In the absence of Swallows coach Dylan Kerr, who is still awaiting a work permit assistant coach Fani Madida fronted the media at the post-match interview. Madida felt their goalkeeper Jody February failed to match the heroics of Marques.
Mpho Makola seals the points for Cape Town City against Swallows with an 𝙪![CDATA[]]>𝙣![CDATA[]]>𝙗![CDATA[]]>𝙚![CDATA[]]>𝙡![CDATA[]]>𝙞![CDATA[]]>𝙚![CDATA[]]>𝙫![CDATA[]]>𝙖![CDATA[]]>𝙗![CDATA[]]>𝙡![CDATA[]]>𝙚 free-kick 🎯![CDATA[]]>💫#DStvPrem pic.twitter.com/SRnXEUmlZb
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) December 18, 2021
"It is a painful one (result) because in the first half we had a hell of a game," said Madida.
"In the second half when they were one player down, we thought it would be easy and we didn't keep that intensity.
"We didn't use our wing-play as we should have done, and I was disappointed in the way the goals were scored.
"The difference today was that the City goalkeeper saved them where our goalkeeper today didn't save us.
"If they score at the second post for the equaliser then it means that something went wrong so definitely, he needed to handle that ball."
City will wrap up their 2021 assignments with an away fixture against hosts SuperSport United, on Wednesday. On the same day, Swallows will be home to Golden Arrows.