Why Lehlohonolo Seema threw in the towel against Kaizer Chiefs

Babina Noko went into this away fixture on the back of a five-game unbeaten run and would have been favourites considering Amakhosi had lost twice in the same number of matches.

A goal from Mfundo Vilakazi, moments after Sekhukhune defender Vuyo Letlapa was sent off, sealed the victory for Chiefs.

Seema explained why he threw in the towel early.

"I think from the minute two [second minutes] we could see that today was not our day and we were gonna have a long afternoon. Actually, I said to the guys, 'Guys, you can see today we are struggling, everyone, it's not working. Let's try by all means to let's salvage a point and let's battle until the end. We can get that point',” Seema said.

"But I would say that it wasn't looking good from the beginning and understandably so, not because the players could no longer fight but nothing was happening. Could it be the fixtures that we were coming from with the travelling? It could be and people say but when you are winning, you are not saying that, it was a matter of time, and we were always concerned.

“Today also it was the first game we played under the sun, I don't know after how long and it has been raining right through. Playing in the rain also takes a toll on the players and we tried to rotate, we tried to give others rest."

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The coach says he put the overall performance down to a “bad day at the office”, while conceding that Chiefs were the superior team.

Babina Noko lost ground on Mamelodi Sundowns, Orlando Pirates and Polokwane City above them on the log table. 

But Seema insists there’s a long way to go.

"The only thing we know how to do is to fight, we will continue to fight and where we are, there's still a lot of games that we played. We haven't even played half of the, we reached half of the season in terms of our games,” the coach added.

“So, we will continue to fight. Our aim is to always improve each and every year like we have been doing since day one. We are only four years old in the league but I can tell you that each and every year we've improved our position, every year, every season.

“So, we are not putting ourselves under pressure, the supporters, everyone knows that today the team had a bad day in the office, it happens in football and we are looking at the schedule.

“We are looking at the schedule, even the schedule of February that we are going to, it's gonna be very challenging and yeah, we'll see how far we can go. The only thing that we want to do is to improve from last season and that will be nice."