Bar one substitution, it was the same Thanda side that came out for the second 45 minutes in Cape Town, yet they looked an altogether different team, as goals from Asanda Mvalo and Edwin Sitayitayi spurred the KZN side on to victory, leaving them level with Santos on four points (Chippa United have two points, with a game in hand).
Amabhubesi played with more fluency and rhythm, and once they got the equaliser, the confidence flowed, as did their football, in stark contrast to a stuttering fist half showing which had seen the game dominated by the Peoples' Team.
"Santos put up a hell of a fight, but we fought well too and showed guts and determination at the end. We never got ourselves going in the first half. We let ourselves down because we never controlled the game well enough.
"When we got the ball up to our front runners it came back too quickly, they weren't holding it up, they were trying to flick things and it didn't quite work for us. We had a big discussion at half-time that we needed to hold the ball up better and bring the midfielders into play," Tovey says.
Accustomed to leading from the front in his playing days for Kaizer Chiefs, AmaZulu and Bafana Bafana, one gets the impression that sometimes Tovey would like to be out on the park in order to ensure his players maintain their focus.
"I can relate to the Santos coach – against Chippa [a 1-1 draw] we dominated the first 55 minutes but then conceded from a set-piece. In football you wish you could get into the minds of the players sometimes, to work on their concentration.
"Our concentration levels need to improve, and we also need to try and relax more – we put ourselves under pressure sometimes. When we are a relaxed team we play better. Then we start keeping the ball, because that's the type of team we are," he adds.
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