Marumo Gallants will not be losing sleep over their 2-0 loss to USM Alger in the CAF Confederation Cup, according to interim coach Raymond Mdaka.
After two impressive wins over Al Akhdar and Saint Eloi Lupopo from Libya and DR Congo respectively top open Group A, the Algerian gainst brought them down to earth.
A stunning goal from Abderrahmane Meziane in the opening half and a late second from Zinedine Belaïd moved them to the summit with seven points, one ahead of Gallants.
“It was a very good game, we have experienced a number of things, more especially because it’s the first round, we still have to play the second round [of the group],” Mdaka said after the defeat in Algiers.
“We’re not undermining anything. They are a good team but we’ll be able to… from what we’ve seen, we able to put up [a better performance] in the second round.”
Mdaka, who replaced Dan Malesela in the hot seat while Dylan Kerr, the senior consultant awaits his work permit, presumably before being named head coach, says they haven’t decided if they will make wholesale changes in the return fixture in two weeks’ time.
“In terms of personnel, we can’t confirm for now, we still have some two, three days, we never know what will happen, but the approach might be very different from how we approached the team – based on what we experienced now,” he added.
“You can not excuse yourself on the crowd or weather here, though it might have had an effect one way or another, obviously this place is cold [in winter], it’s not as hot as South Africa right now – but it’s not the reason for our loss.
“Obviously when they come to the other side it will be different weather, which might be an advantage to us – as it happened to them.”
Gallants will face TS Galaxy and Mamelodi Sundowns in Bloemfontein before hosting USMA at Dobsonville Stadium early next month.
