Swallows coach left frustrated

Johannesburg - Moroka Swallows coach Zeca Marques was left frustrated after his side gave away two soft goals and settled for a share of the points against Premiership strugglers Free State Stars in Bethlehem on Saturday.

Rudi Isaacs put the visitors in front as early as the second minute, but a late flurry of goals resulted in a 2-2 draw as the Birds lost some ground in the race for the league title in their last match before the mid-season break.

"I think the players are already in the Christmas spirit, giving away two goals," Marques said.

"I think both goals were our fault, to be honest, and two schoolboy errors at this level is unacceptable. I'm obviously very disappointed with our performance. We weren't at the best level.

"The defence and the goalkeeper (Greg Etafia) made schoolboy errors."

However, man of the match Larry Cohen, who bagged Swallows' second strike in the closing stages, was more optimistic as they remained in the top half of the table.

"That's a game of football. Three points weren't guaranteed and unfortunately it wasn't our day," Cohen said.

"We came away with a point, which we were looking for away from home, and we'll just have to build from here after Christmas."

While Stars fought back to equalise twice in the second half, through Sadat Ouro-Akoriko and teenager Adam Abdul-Basit, coach Themba Sithole was not entirely satisfied with the effort.

His side remained entrenched in the relegation zone with 13 points from 14 matches.

"At least we got a point, even though we still have to work a lot in terms of our concentration levels," Sithole said.

"You can't concede a goal in the first two minutes.

"We did well to come back but I'm a little disappointed with the way we lost concentration."