In a gripping Nedbank Cup final, TS Galaxy’s interim coach Bernard Parker has pointed to critical lapses in focus as a key factor that led to his team’s 2-1 defeat to Durban City in Polokwane on Saturday.
Galaxy initially took control of the match, going into half-time with a 1-0 lead after Durban City forward Jean Lubumba inadvertently scored an own goal from a corner kick.
However, the second half witnessed a turnaround as Durban City equalized with a goal from Mfanafuthi Mkhize before Lwamba scored the decisive goal, sealing the championship for City.
In only his second match at the helm, Parker acknowledged the impact of tactical adjustments made by Durban City manager Pitso Dladla, which revitalized their squad. He expressed disappointment over his players’ diminished concentration following the equalizer.
“We created a silly foul and then from the foul we switch off,” Parker reflected. “We switch off, they play quickly, cross comes in, trying to deal with the cross, low and hard, a little bit slight deflection. I think it was from [Junior] Zindonga, and it fell to the Durban City forward.”
He elaborated on the situation, emphasizing that his side had an advantage in numbers yet failed to capitalize on it: “As you can see in that instance from the replay, it was two against six. There were only two players in the box against our six. It was just because of the deflection it put us off, 1-1 okay.”
Parker expressed his belief in the mental resilience of his players and outlined strategic changes intended to shore up the defense. “I managed to make a change so that we can neutralize from the left-hand side, pushing Zindonga up higher so he didn’t have a direct concentration with Terrence [Mashego],” he said.
Despite these efforts, a further lapse led to Durban City’s second goal. “Then little bit of loss of concentration again, where Durban City cleared the ball, miss kick by our midfielder. I think it was [Tshepo] Kakora our midfielder, miss-clearance fell to Mbunjana, which I think we could have dealt better in terms of the second ball and the goal came,” Parker explained.
Reflecting on the circumstances surrounding the winning goal, he noted, “The goal also came with a little bit of luck. As I said, football comes with luck, where he just took a snapshot and he didn’t even connect properly, and the next thing it was loped over the goalkeeper. But it is football.”
Determined to shift momentum back in his team’s favor, Parker made another brave tactical move. “Then I was brave enough to make a change and say, ‘okay, we add another attacker forward’, putting the three across the field, sacrificing one midfielder, so that we can try and regain back the equalizer and get back into the game.”
