SuperSport United’s Diski Challenge coach Thabo September took out some valuable lessons from the team’s first match of their UK tour against Bristol City and is determined to inspire his boys to greater heights.
After arriving in the UK on Monday, the excited youngsters trained at the facilities of English Championship club Queens Park Rangers, an experience they appeared to enjoy quite a lot.
On Tuesday, the team went on a bus ride of close to three hours to Bristol, for their first match on the tour. September’s boys took on Bristol City’s under-21 side in a match that ended 6-2 to the hosts.
Bristol raced to a 2-0 lead within the first 11 minutes of the clash, but SuperSport had the tenacity to fight back, overcoming jet lag to show their opponents that they are no pushovers.
Defenders Khebetswe Khonyane and Bilal Baloyi got onto the scoresheet for SuperSport, giving them hope after a shaky start.
Stunned by the visitors, Bristol stepped things up and bagged four goals to complete a 6-2 victory in front of a small crowd at the training venue.
Despite the heavy defeat, September was not discouraged. In fact, he was motivated.
“It was a good game. I think we started a bit bad, but we regrouped and got back into the game to make it 2-2.
Then with three minutes to go until halftime, we conceded a third goal and we would have loved to go into the break at 2-2. But it wasn’t to be. We were punished for our mistakes,” he said after the game.
“We had too many challenges in the second half, with the injuries and stuff. We learnt a lot from the game and what an experience it was.
We trained at QPR (Queens Park Rangers) and played at the facility of Bristol City and there is a lot we can still learn. The academies are fulltime with the first team and they’ve got their own facilities.”
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