Publications
Partners
Cape Town - Lebogang Manyama believes Kaizer Chiefs could so easily have won the game despite almost losing it after the 1-1 draw with SuperSport United.
Manyama came away with the man-of-the-match award - his second of the season - after setting up Samir Nurkovic for Chiefs' goal and making some telling contributions in the final third.
The 28-year-old showed all his quality with a defence-splitting diagonal to set up the Serbian for his maiden Amakhosi goal and then threaded a lovely slide-rule pass for Nurkovic, who was one-on-one with Ronwen Williams but failed to hit the back of the net.
Matsatsantsa then almost immediately went up to the other side of the field and equalised through Bradley Grobler after brilliant work by Thamsanqa Gabuza.
Chiefs almost lost all three points when the visitors won a penalty with virtually the last kick of the game, but goalkeeper Daniel Akpeyi produced the goods to deny Grobler from the spot and get his side out of jail.
And Manyama said it hit home for him just how fine the margins are in football.
"It was a very good game from both sides," said Manyama.
"Lots of chances. We couldn't finish. We missed a one-on-one and then it goes back to our side and it's 1-1 at the end of the day.
"Good game for the fans. We're grateful for the support. We would have loved to take three points.
"But you know SuperSport are a great team and they never stop fighting. We knew when they brought on Thami (Gabuza) then the long balls were coming. We tried to deal with them. These are things we learn from.
"One point is better than a loss. Big game on Tuesday in Cape Town. So, we move on from here."
The Glamour Boys' forward then paid tribute to Nurkovic for his high work-rate and off-the-ball movement.
"Nurkovic is forever running," said Manyama.
"He's always an option for us. He helps the team in a lot of ways. Way before the ball came, I could see that he wanted to go. These are things we work on."
