Chippa United co-coach Kwanele Kopo says their 2-0 DStv Premiership win against SuperSport United on Saturday has given the team a sense of relief.
Goals from local Sinoxolo Kwayiba and Bienvenu Eva Nga at the Lucas Moripe Stadium delivered the Gqeberha side their four consecutive success in the league.
The Chilli Boys are now eighth on the log with 32 points from 24 matches.
Meanwhile, the loss sees coach Gavin Hunt's troops continue their dry spell in the league. Though still in fifth position on the log, Matsatsantsa have not won a league match in nine games.
Ahead of the encounter, Kopo said they were aiming to see if they could reach the 35-point mark first before looking at competing for the top eight.
Kopo believes that 35 points would be enough to save them from being drawn into the relegation dogfight this season.
Now with only six more matches left, Chippa are only three points away from reaching that goal.
“We were desperate for three points, Chippa is a team that normally at this time of the season are down there fighting for relegation trying to survive,” Kopo said.
“So, the mandate has been clear with the players that at the moment we are not looking at beauty we are looking at the points and it's going to look ugly many times but we have to get those points in the bag and then you can build.
“You cannot build when you are suffocating down there you can only build when you have an opportunity to breathe and I think the result today allows us to breathe.”
Reflecting on the game Kopo said: “It was tough. I think I said before the game started that SuperSport are a wounded team trying by all means to win.
“They are a very good and competitive team, and we knew that on their day we were going to be under a lot of pressure.
“So, we expected the onslaught that came but I felt that we survived the first 15 minutes where they broke a couple of times.
“After that, I felt we settled a little bit better into the game and then they began to make mistakes at the back which we took complete advantage of to score the first goal.
“Once we were 1-0 in the lead we knew that the pressure was going to come in the second half but at the same time, we knew we had an opportunity to catch them on the counter.
“So, the priority was always to deal with the long ball, the direct ball that was coming to Bradley Grobler, which I felt for most of the game we dealt with very well.
“In the second half, SuperSport changed and started going wide more and bringing in crosses which gave us problems.
“But then we changed to play with five at the back and let our wing backs deal with Gamphani Lunguand on the left-hand side Aphiwe Baliti to deal with those two and stop the crosses.
“And yes, the goalkeeper made some very good saves, he had to when you play against SuperSport and there is handing in the box with Bradley Grobler, Etiosa Ighodaro with Terrence Dzvukamanja you expect that, but I think for a certain extent we were lucky.”
HeraldLIVE
Chippa can breathe easier after win against SuperSport
Sense of relief for Chilli Boys, says co-coach Koko
Soccer reporter
Image: Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix
Chippa United co-coach Kwanele Kopo says their 2-0 DStv Premiership win against SuperSport United on Saturday has given the team a sense of relief.
Goals from local Sinoxolo Kwayiba and Bienvenu Eva Nga at the Lucas Moripe Stadium delivered the Gqeberha side their four consecutive success in the league.
The Chilli Boys are now eighth on the log with 32 points from 24 matches.
Meanwhile, the loss sees coach Gavin Hunt's troops continue their dry spell in the league. Though still in fifth position on the log, Matsatsantsa have not won a league match in nine games.
Ahead of the encounter, Kopo said they were aiming to see if they could reach the 35-point mark first before looking at competing for the top eight.
Kopo believes that 35 points would be enough to save them from being drawn into the relegation dogfight this season.
Now with only six more matches left, Chippa are only three points away from reaching that goal.
“We were desperate for three points, Chippa is a team that normally at this time of the season are down there fighting for relegation trying to survive,” Kopo said.
“So, the mandate has been clear with the players that at the moment we are not looking at beauty we are looking at the points and it's going to look ugly many times but we have to get those points in the bag and then you can build.
“You cannot build when you are suffocating down there you can only build when you have an opportunity to breathe and I think the result today allows us to breathe.”
Reflecting on the game Kopo said: “It was tough. I think I said before the game started that SuperSport are a wounded team trying by all means to win.
“They are a very good and competitive team, and we knew that on their day we were going to be under a lot of pressure.
“So, we expected the onslaught that came but I felt that we survived the first 15 minutes where they broke a couple of times.
“After that, I felt we settled a little bit better into the game and then they began to make mistakes at the back which we took complete advantage of to score the first goal.
“Once we were 1-0 in the lead we knew that the pressure was going to come in the second half but at the same time, we knew we had an opportunity to catch them on the counter.
“So, the priority was always to deal with the long ball, the direct ball that was coming to Bradley Grobler, which I felt for most of the game we dealt with very well.
“In the second half, SuperSport changed and started going wide more and bringing in crosses which gave us problems.
“But then we changed to play with five at the back and let our wing backs deal with Gamphani Lunguand on the left-hand side Aphiwe Baliti to deal with those two and stop the crosses.
“And yes, the goalkeeper made some very good saves, he had to when you play against SuperSport and there is handing in the box with Bradley Grobler, Etiosa Ighodaro with Terrence Dzvukamanja you expect that, but I think for a certain extent we were lucky.”
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