Eymael encouraged despite Sundowns defeat

Cape Town - Black Leopards coach Luc Eymael wasn't too downbeat after his side suffered a 2-1 loss to Mamelodi Sundowns on Wednesday.

Themba Zwane's goal and an own-goal from Chris Katjiukua in the first half gave the Brazilians a 2-0 lead at the interval, but a goal from Mwape Musonda on the hour mark brought the hosts back into the game.

The match was the Belgian's first game in charge of the club having watched from the sidelines over the weekend.

"I think we started a bit late, we conceded the goal that I made my players aware about that, with these kinds of crosses and rotations on the wings, between the striker and the winger. [Jose Ali] Meza made a cross at the near post," Eymael told SuperSport TV.

"What can I say on the second goal, how many times have I asked my full-backs not to go inside? We brought them inside and they made a cross and lack of communication between the goalkeeper and a central defender.

"We motivated our boys at half-time, we changed a bit the system at half-time. I think we had a fantastic second half. I have to congratulate the boys, the pace of the game was very high. We pushed a lot to try to come back, we scored only one goal, we could have scored certainly two or three. I think on the second half we deserved a draw but thinking it is one thing and to do it is another thing.

"We have to work hard on that. I want to congratulate the boys on the second half, the first half I'm not so happy because for me [we made] two silly mistakes and conceded two goals.

"We have to work on the fitness, we played now two games in three days. Sunday was very hot, some of the boys were cramping. Today the pace of the game was high. I started with two [number] six and only one ten, okay maybe a mistake. But I was expecting another 11 [goals from] Sundowns, but okay that's the reason I started like that. We take it on me for the first half, but we changed well in the second half.

"Sundowns is the richest club in South Africa, they can put three different 11 players on the pitch without losing the quality. I think our reaction was fantastic, we have to continue to work, especially with the results of the teams behind us."

- TeamTalk Media