TS Galaxy coach Adnan Beganovic says he was delighted to come away with a point from Friday’s Betway Premiership clash against Stellenbosch, which kept the Mpumalanga-based side in the top eight of the standings.
Galaxy have a poor past record against Stellenbosch, with one win in 14 matches ahead of the clash at the Danie Craven Stadium but went into a 45-second lead as Junior Zindoga struck early with the Stellenbosch defence caught flat.
But the home team staged a second-half recovery and equalised through Wonderboy Makhubu in the 57th minute but could not grab a second goal.
The 1-1 stalemate left Stellenbosch in ninth place, one point behind Galaxy but with a game in hand.
“The game turned out exactly how we expected it because we’ve played so many times against Stellenbosch and so many times against Gary Hunt. We knew exactly how he plays, and what he wants on the field, and which combination he tried to set up.
“We expected so many crosses, we expected so many long balls, so I prepared my team to defend well, to stay compact all the time,” Beganovic explained.
Zindoga’s goal is the second time this season that Galaxy have scored inside the opening minute. Seluleko Mahlambi netted after 36 seconds against Orbit College in late August.
“We scored a beautiful goal because we know we will get that space behind because if Stellenbosch pushed us, they’d probably leave big space behind and we also
trained that part to push our wingers to stay high, almost on the line, and then we also get the third runner who can attack that space behind,” said the Galaxy coach.
“In the halftime, in the dressing room, we tried to sort set pieces because Stellenbosch is so dangerous in set pieces. We agreed on how we need to defend it, to play one against one, and to leave three players to stay in the zone. And then I think we had success and defended set pieces very well in the second 45 minutes.
“But we conceded an unnecessary goal because I think we needed to stop that cross before it was put inside.”
Makhubu headed home from close range, squeezing the ball under the body of goalkeeper Ira Tape, to level the scores.
Galaxy had lost their previous five league games but at the same time qualified for the Nedbank Cup semifinal, so this was something of a relief for Beganovic.
“I'm so proud of my team because we stayed calm and then we tried to play our game. We stayed compact but still tried to find space behind and we created chances to score.
And then, you know, when you have no points after five games, this is exactly what we wanted,” the coach added.