Jomo Cosmos caught another bout of stage fright at the Rand Stadium on Tuesday night when they crashed 3-1 to Absa Premiership champions SuperSport United in a drama-packed fixture that saw both sides finish the game with 10 men.
But coach Jomo Sono is not about to start pushing any panic buttons.
However, he was honest and to the point after the match when he said: ”This season we face an uphill battle adapting to the Premier Soccer League [PSL] after coming from the First Division. But I am not about to panic as there is still a long way to go and we will improve.
”We have done well so far by collecting six points from seven matches and I believe we will adapt. My priority this season is to survive in the highly competitive PSL.”
Sono will have to lift his men for Sunday’s showdown against PSL glamour side Kaizer Chiefs, also at the Rand Stadium.
Said the man dubbed the Black Prince during his playing days with Orlando Pirates: ”We will start getting used to playing against big sides and hopefully be ready against Chiefs. The problem is that we are still nervous. My players got stage fright against Pirates [Cosmos lost 4-0] and against SuperSport.
”We need to prepare for Chiefs and get rid of the nerves. But I am glad to have faced the big sides like Pirates, SuperSport and Chiefs early in the season. After playing all these big clubs with big-name players it will get a bit easier for my players to adapt.”
Sono admitted that his players were not in the game against United during the first 15 minutes and conceded his players struggled throughout the match.
”We could not get going. It was tough for us. The dressing room was quiet and tense before the game and that showed me the players were nervous against SuperSport. Make no mistake, SuperSport are a good side. They are well organised and disciplined and excel at set pieces.”
But matters got worse when his Mali defender, Ousmane Berthe, was sent off by referee Jerome Damon in the 56th minute.
”Berthe is my best defender and held the defence together and also helped block out the threat at set pieces from United’s Morgan Gould. But once he was sent off we really struggled and Gould scored a second goal.”
Gould (2) and Thabo Mongalo netted for United, with Sekou Camara scoring for the losers.
United also had striker Glen Salmon sent off in the 60th minute with Gould picking up a booking. Salmon, Gould and his defensive partner, Bongani Khumalo, who missed this match through suspension, will all sit out United’s trip to Bethlehem’s Goble Park for the clash against Free State Stars on Saturday.
United coach Gavin Hunt was happy with the result but worried about the amount of chances his players squandered.
”We would have had only ourselves to blame had we dropped any points. We had enough chances to have sewn up the match in the first half.”
But one aspect of United’s game pleased the hard-working coach.
”I thought we played some good football out there. That was good. It was justice that we won in the end after missing a penalty and wasting all those chances.”
As regards the dreaded trip to Bethlehem, Hunt said: ”I have a depleted side at present. Add the fact we lost 4-1 there [Bethlehem] last season where it could have been 24-1, we were that bad.
”The pitch is another problem. It is a cabbage patch. We cannot play decent football on it so we will have to try to keep the ball in the air.
”But this win has boosted our spirits and we go to Bethlehem ready to fight for a result.” — Sapa