SuperSport United coach Kaitano Tembo admits that his side was too focused on Khama Billiat in their 2-2 draw against Kaizer Chiefs in the first-leg of their MTN8 semi-final.

The former Mamelodi Sundowns attacker showed his class by netting the opener, before supplying striking-partner Leonardo Castro with the other goal.

Speaking after the match, Tembo felt SuperSport showed Amakhosi too much respect in the second half.

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‘We played well, but I am not happy with our defending. We were more worried about Khama’s pace and we kept dropping too defensively,’ he said in post-match comments.

‘Sometimes we were supposed to track and release. We kept on tracking. He is a very intelligent player, he can identify the spaces that he can run into.

‘But I think in terms of our overall performance we played well. We scored two good goals, Bradley [Grobler] did well.

‘At halftime, I emphasised on the pace, but we were dropping at the wrong time. On the second goal, we should have stepped up and gone to the ball and pressed the ball. We didn’t do that. Our lines were also zig-zagged.

‘At the same time though the boys tried hard, they worked very hard. Credit to them,’ he added.

Despite being at a slight disadvantage due to Chiefs’ two away goals, Tembo believes that his side can still secure a spot in the final and defend their MTN8 title.

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‘The fight is still on, we are still going to go there and fight. It is not over yet.

‘We played better in the first half. We did have a good start, but we played well. Scored two goals. In the second half, we didn’t have a good start when they had the equaliser so early and I think it killed us a little bit.

‘Kaizer Chiefs played well. They worked well together. They fought hard. I think we will give the fans a good game in the second leg.

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‘I think we scored two goals which is important, we will take that and still work a bit on our defence but in our overall performance we did well,’ he concluded.