We lacked temperament - Sihlangu's Mashaba

(At Barbourfields Stadium – Bulawayo Courtesy of Dups Insurance)

BULAWAYO – Sihlangu coach Ephraim Shakes Mashaba admitted that his charges lacked the big match temperament against a rejuvenated Botswana Zebras, in the COSAFA Senior challenge yesterday.

Commenting after the match, Mashaba said they paid the prize for allowing their opponents to take the game from them, but also applauded his counterpart Stanley Tshoane for coming up with a proper game plan.
“We are still in it, even though we would now have to rely on how Botswana plays against Seychelles. Today we lacked the needed temperament for the match and we paid for it,” he said.

He said while the tournament is a proper platform for developing for the future, there was still a need to take it seriously. “I am angry that some countries are no longer taking the tournament seriously and that is bad, looking at the history of the tournament,” he said.

His counterpart Stanley Tshoane, said the plan was to run from the onset, hence exert pressure on their opponents.
“I told my players to go all out and fight. That is the reason you saw my strikers chasing back to mark. Our aim was to put Swaziland under pressure. But after the goal, the onus was on them to come at us, hence we packed the defence,” he said.

Tshoane said the group was now wide open and that they would not rest on their laurels.
Sihlangu, by the defeat, blew away an automatic chance to make the quarter finals where they would meet the winners of the other groups.

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