TTM coach Masutha apologises for not having enough players in MTN8 quarterfinal

Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila head coach Joel Masutha issued an apology after his side were only able to put three substitutes on the bench in their 3-2 MTN8 quarterfinal defeat to SuperSport United at Thohoyandou Stadium on Saturday.

READ MORE: SuperSport hold on to edge out tenacious TTM

TTM signed a host of players this week, but could not register all of them in time and were thus left with only goalkeeper Washington Arubi, midfielder Edward Manaka and attacking midfielder Thabo Mnyamane as substitutes for the game against Matsatsantsa.

“I would like to apologise to the football fraternity and to everybody who loves the game,” said Masutha, after his side had produced a brave fightback from three goals down.

“We will never try and shift the blame and point fingers at other people but I do feel if we had sorted out our administration on time we maybe would have won the match. It is water under the bridge but it is a good lesson for everyone involved in the running of the club.”

“It was a tough match,” added Masutha on a game in which Bradley Grobler, Iqraam Rayners and Ghampani Lungu sent SuperSport surging ahead, though a brace from Mogakolodi Ngele gave TTM hope and they almost found an equaliser.

“They (SuperSport) are not called cup specialists for nothing, but at the same time the boys gave a very good account of themselves. They tried to play we way we wanted we were just caught napping in the first 25 minutes, failing to deal with an overload on the sides but other wise we came and did what we had to do. Unfortunately we lost.”

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