Taribo asked to be benched

The decision has not been received well by the disappointed supporters of the ‘Beautiful Birds’ who are still reeling at the loss to their city rivals.

The player said he was still adjusting to the local climate.

"I asked the coach to leave me on the bench because I felt that I had not yet aclimatised to the hot temperatures here. I come from an environment where for the past two months it has been snowing. I felt that I could not last the entire match, hence the decision to come in later," he said.

The former Nkomanzi Sundowns player rested Etienne Massoye in the second half and his introduction helped inspired the team, before conceding a late goal that kicked them out of the lucrative tournament.

"Such things happen in football, I personally give credit to Highlanders for the win, but we will have to focus on the league," he said.

Coach Nyanga Hlophe said admitted that the player requested to start on the bench.

"If I was an Inyanga (not my name though) I would have started with Taribo because what he showed me when he came on was good. I could see that he would have lasted the mile. At training he was always complaining about the temperature and I think I was wrong to listen to that because he should have made the difference," he said.

He was, however, adamanant that the team’s level of fitness was at acceptable levels, save for that there were lapses in concentration.

"Apart from concentrating on these issues at training we also talked about it, because I knew it would haunt us. It’s a pity that we had to suffer at the end, but life goes on; there is still the league to play for," he said.

Swallows lost 2-3 to Highlanders in the game, and they subsequently crashed out of the SwaziBank Cup. The irony is that even last season they lost at the same stage to Manzini Wanderers, who beat them 2-1.