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Jeremy Brockie ’14, Bradley Grobler ’30, Michael Boxall ‘41
Luvuyo Memela ’12, Clayton Daniels ‘ 52
Two cup finals, two losses for Eric Tinkler!
After losing yet another one – the Nedbank Cup – the future doesn’t look good for Tinkler. This defeat will renew the calls for his head as Pirates have once again become the bridesmaid. They also lost the CAF Confederation Cup final last year.
What more can SuperSport United ask of Stuart Baxter? When he joined in January, his mandate was to qualify the team for the top-eight competition. This he did on the last day of the league campaign.
Now he has gone beyond the mandate and delivered silverware, which also comes with a cheque of R7 million as the first prize, and the team will qualify for next year’s CAF Confederation Cup.
Baxter has proved to be a cup king in South African football. He has won four trophies in three seasons with Kaizer Chiefs.
The Nedbank Cup win means three of the four trophies have gone to Tshwane sides – Mamelodi Sundowns having won the Telkom Knockout and the Absa Premiership championship.
No one would have bet on United taking a 3-1 lead going into the dressing room after the first 45 minutes, but the rampant team silenced Bucs supporters in the opening half. And it could have been more if Brockie had not missed a seater with only goalkeeper Brighton Mhlongo to beat.
After taking the lead in the 12th minute through Luvuyo Memela, Pirates went to sleep and allowed United to come back. And this they did convincingly, first with Brockie’s equaliser two minutes later. This goal prompted more attacks from United – they seemed to sense that the game was up for grabs.
United launched most of their attacks from the right wing, where Thuso Phala and Brockie were operating after realising that Thabo Matlaba was always out of position.
Pirates supporters did not believe what they were witnessing after United came from behind to take the lead after Grobler’s 30th minute strike. This after Thabo Rakhale was dispossessed by a marauding Sibusiso Khumalo, who fed Brockie to unleash a powerful shot, which Brighton Mhlongo parried away. But Grobler was in hand to slot home from close range. It was not over when United got their third, but Michael Boxall headed home in the 41st minute.
Still the match was not finished. Pirates came back from the break a totally different side. This was after a tactical switch made by Tinkler, who introduced Happy Jele for the ineffective Rakhale. The change got Pirates going from the onset and they took the game to United. They were soon to be rewarded when they benefited from a Clayton Daniels own goal in the 52nd minute. It was one-way traffic from then on as they searched for an equaliser.
No matter how hard they tried to score, United hung on for dear life to become the new champions.
. Meanwhile, Mamelodi Sundowns are yet to agree to a new deal with their coach, Pitso Mosimane, whose contract is coming to an end on Tuesday.
Sources have revealed that the two parties are yet to agree on contract extension.
“Negotiations have been going on for a long time and this does not auger well for Pitso because he does not know where he stands at the moment. This should have been signed a long time ago,” said a source close to Mosimane.
However, Sundowns CEO Sizwe Nzimande said there was nothing to worry about as the new deal was imminent.
Nzimande said they had been busy with other things in the past few weeks.
“We should have a deal any moment now as we have agreed in principle,” said Nzimande.
