Polokwane City coach Phuti Mohafe was delighted with his team collecting a point against DStv Premiership leaders Mamelodi Sundowns.
Rise and Shine is now the second team in as many matches to keep out the league leaders after Cape Town City did so last Sunday.
For Mohafe, it’s deserved for a side that entered the Loftus Versfeld Stadium with a point and ended up leaving with a point.
“It is a well deserved point for Polokwane City. We came here with one point in the bag and we go with one point in the bag,” Mohafe told SuperSport TV.
“We give them the ball, let them rotate the ball and deny them the spaces. Deny them the spaces behind you, deny them the penetration passes, catch them on the break-attacks even though we didn’t fulfil that. It wasn’t up to standard.
“We sat back, not too deep, but it worked for us and coming out of Loftus with a point is massive for us,” he added.
A 28th minute substitution from Rise and Shine raised eyebrows when Luciano Van Heerden was removed for Rodney Maphangule.
“Look, we had to neutralise the midfield three. Allende, Zwane and Mokoena, so we realised that Allende was moving faster than Van Heerden and Van Heerden when you check he hasn’t been playing lately but I think even the stature of the game it tend to be heavy for him.
“But in the field, he did well when we had possession but in terms of defending it wasn’t up to scratch. Now we wanted somebody who could also win the aerial balls because they were also pumping them when they wanted to go to Shalulile and Ribeiro.
“So, Maphangule helped with that and we have two players in the middle so it was a very good substitution for us,” the coach elaborated."
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