Coach Morena Ramoreboli says Bafana Bafana had to dig deep to secure their spot in COSAFA Cup semi-finals on Tuesday night.
It was scoreless at halftime before the visiting nation were ahead only for a double from Tshegofatso Mabasa who came off the bench separated matters.
The turnaround was largely attributed to the three substitutions in the closing quarter where Mabasa, Tebogo Tlolane and Shaune Mogaila entered.
Read | Bafana secure COSAFA Cup semi-final spot
“When things are becoming tougher that’s when you need to try to analyse and try to see where we can get that important goal. I think we brought in Tshego, Mogaila, Tlolane at the right time and as soon as they got in, they settled so well and we started to create more chances,” Ramoreboli told SuperSport TV.
“And even before they came in, we were threatening. I think we just could not connect with that final pass but I’m happy that the substitutions worked for us. We managed to get the results we wanted.
Mogaila, who got the winner against Botswana strangely started on the bench though was called in to alter the approach particularly as Eswatini banked on the break.
“I think we realised that they wanted us to commit so that they play behind us when they win the ball. So, we started to try and protect the ball and use it wisely because we could not penetrate through the centre, but we had to go wide that’s why the introduction of [Shaune] Mogaila.
“To say can we stretch them a bit, can we allow Lyle [Lakay] to use the space alone on the left and have numbers covered in the central zone. The zone 14 was well covered and that’s why we managed to get goals.
With Sihlangu Semnikati proving difficult to breakdown much of the time, Ramoreboli believes they had to dig deep despite that the visitors were bound to crack at some stage and gave full praise to the supporters and everyone from players to technical staff too.
“Really, we had to dig deep. It was not an easy game, honestly speaking this was one of these matches when you make analysis you realise how difficult they are because they don’t move.
“They stand there in front of their goal post. They kick everything forward so we had to try and find a way how are we going to break that block because they couldn’t move there.
“The full-backs weren’t moving, when you try to go through the centre they have numbers, when you go wide, play inside they are strong in the air, they can compete but obviously you can’t defend for 90 minutes.
“At some point you’ll make mistakes. The two mistakes they made we managed to get the two goals out of those mistakes."
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