Swallows coach rues two points dropped against Sporting

The Dube Birds could not find their way past a resident Abantu Bemthetho and coach Brandon Truter feels the title may just be lost now.

“It was our first game (after the long break) and while I can’t say it was rustiness but we were not as fluid as we should have been,” said Truter in a post-match interview.

“Our opponent played on the counter. Look, defending is part of the game and they came here to defend and not lose and try to get us on a counter. They had 11 players in front of their penalty area and it became difficult for us to break them.

“It became a little ugly toward the end as we changed the tactics and threw everything at them. At the end of the day for them it’s a point gained but for us it’s two points dropped and it sets us back, we are now nine points behind Ajax and that makes it a bit difficult (to catch up with Ajax),” admitted the mentor.

All is however not lost and the Dube Birds can still make their anticipated return to top flight football via the more harder route of playoffs.

“We can still fight for the playoffs but now against us teams will park the bus and hope to get us in the counter, but that is to be expected and we need to find our way around it.

“The good thing is that at least now we have got our first 90 minutes and I hope the nerves and anxiety are gone and we will build from here,” he said.