Hungry Lions head coach Henry Basie has says the players started to panic after conceding the goal against Orlando Pirates.
Lions shot themselves in the foot after Morena Monaheng conceded an own goal midway into the first stanza and they were reduced to ten men on the hour-mark after S'Bongakonke Gamede was red-carded for a professional foul.
The floodgates opened soon thereafter as Tshegofatso Mabasa netted a brace and another goal scored by Monnapule Saleng.
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Basie says his charges started to panic after conceding an own goal and feels also that they were put off by a wet pitch, something they are not used to playing at.
"Good game, I think we started with a good plan but when we scored the own goal the boys started to panic. I think Pirates is a good team, exceptional lessons for us tonight," Basie told SuperSport TV.
"Even when we talk about the pitch itself in terms of the conditions, we're used to playing on dry grass and tonight we couldn't get the grip on the ball, because the ball is skiing all the time. It was a struggle for my boys.
"But I think two or three boys did exceptionally well, more especially my left-back Cohen and Jan was also doing well. But I think under the conditions they played exceptionally and I'm so happy, I think we've learned.
"We can just take it as lessons, I mean Orlando Pirates is not a small team. I think what we saw tonight, they are a little bit too clever for us. But we can learn, we can only take the lessons and get better."
Ditau Dia Rora are still in the race for promotion in the Motsepe Foundation Championship, lying sixth on the table, six points off a spot in the promotion play-off spots and Basie went on and said they are looking forward to resuming their league campaign, with the ambition of getting promoted to the DStv Premiership.
"Of course we take our focus back to the league now. This opportunity you can just embrace it, we're so happy for the likes of Nedbank Cup, the PSL, Irvin Khoza, Kaizer Motaung, Mato (Madlala), what they are doing for us," Basie went on.
"I mean tonight the emotions we had to share some of them, strict Orlando Pirates supporters but some of them they supported us tonight. Therefore we embrace the opportunity, we've learned a lot.
"We're looking forward to promotion, so this gives us a chance to see how we go in this league and if you want to compete you need to play this way. So I think I'm proud man. Unfortunately we conceded a little bit of too many goals, it was not the plan but because of the conditions, the red-card, it didn't give us a chance tonight. But I'll pray for another chance," he concluded.
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