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Mngqithi: Erasmus was very unfortunate

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Mamelodi Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi believes Kermit Erasmus could have easily scored a hat-trick against Bloemfontein Celtic on Tuesday.

Sundowns failed to find the net for the second game in a row after playing out to a goalless draw with Celtic at the Lucas Moripe Stadium.

The Brazilians have now extended their lead at the top of the DStv Premiership table by one point over second-placed Swallows, despite earning a point.

Mngqithi says Erasmus was a bit unfortunate not to have scored but feels his side still are not at their sharpest.

‘This one was a little bit of a tough one because I think we got some opportunities where we could have opened the game up, it’s not going to be easy when they are sitting deep and not giving us space behind the defence,’ Mngqithi told SuperSport TV after the game.

‘I thought the chances we got in the first half, Kermit [Erasmus] was very unfortunate today. I believe he could have easily scored a hat-trick but, on the day, he was just very unfortunate, we must just accept that.

‘But I still believe we were not at our sharpest point, not very sharp and convincing, maybe when we made the substitutions in the second half and refreshed the team that’s where we started to look [better] with quicker combinations to try and get behind the defence.

‘But all in all I still think it was not a performance one would have expected, but what can we do? We can just appreciate that we did not concede again and we have not lost a match; they had some scary moments on counter-attacks and they always trouble us on counter-attacks, but I think today we dealt with those situations a little bit better,’ he said.

‘It’s just not looking good when you’re not scoring in two matches in a row being a team like Sundowns, not taking away the fact that their goalkeeper put in some good saves. Jackson [Mabokgwane] did very well on Kermit in the first half, Sipho Chaine also did very well second half. We have to go back and work, hopefully in the big one [against Swallows FC on Saturday] we’ll be able to get the desired results.’