In this week's DoRego's blog, we feature SuperSport United's Mark Haskins. The midfielder looks back at the team's season and has a message for the Matsatsantsa a Pitori supporters.
We always knew the Nedbank Cup final against Kaizer Chiefs would be a difficult game. They were on a high, having just won the league, but we gave a good account of ourselves. It was always going to be an evenly matched game, especially with the kind of quality we have. It's unfortunate that the result didn't go our way, but I'd like to believe that we gave as good as we got. As we all know, Chiefs wanna play football that will win them games, so we had to break up their play and disrupt them as much as possible and I think we did that really well. We created the better chances, especially in the first half. I see many people say it was a scrappy affair in the opening stages, but you have to make it a scrappy game against Chiefs and we did that, and that's why we were in the game all the way to extra time. Conceding so late in the game... I don't think it was tired legs at all. If you look at it, if anything, the guys were going strong. We were battling all the way. We were a man down for the second half of extra time after Sibusiso Zuma went off injured, but the guys were still running hard. We never looked out of the game at any point. With 11 players it was difficult already, so being a man down was always going to be tough. But we created a couple of chances and it is testament to the fighting spirit of the boys. We never gave up and we fought tooth and nail to the last whistle. The guys left everything on the field and I think they should be commended!
Hmmm...well, it wasn't so much a farewell for Gavin Hunt, but ja, SuperSport United as a club always wants to win things. We wanted to go home with the cup. It's disappointing that we've ended the season without winning anything. We have nothing to show for it!
It's really been a season of near-misses. If you look at all the games we drew, many of them we feel we should have won and competed for the league title. Even in cup competitions, we went to a cup final and a semifinal, so it's really been a season of near-misses. In that regard it's been a bit disappointing. We've been there and thereabouts all the way and there were some positives that came out of it. We didn't score enough goals and that's what the game is about. I think we fell short in that area. It's something we need to work on and improve. I don't want to attribute it to any one factor – it's something we all need to work on. As for my own performance, I think things came good towards the end. I started playing a bit more towards the end. I didn't obviously play as much as I would have liked. As a footballer, you need to be on the field to prove your worth and I wasn't happy with my lack of game time, but I'm happy with my good finish to the season. The competition is also tight. One thing about this team is that in every position we've got competition. If one player is out, another one comes in and does equally well.
Yeah, I think that qualifying for the Caf Confederations Cup is some consolation for us. The level of football in the Confederations Cup is something else and we're all looking forward to having another bite at the cherry after being eliminated by Egyptian side ENPPI. They beat us here at home. I won't say they were a cut above us, but they had more experience. The experience of having played in the competition before will help us next season.
I'd like to just keep going and win things with the club next season. But for now I'm taking it easy with my family at home, before going back for preseason on 26 June. It's a couple of weeks' break so I need all the rest I can get, but we've been given a training programme and I've been keeping fit. But I don't know if I will necessarily be at SuperSport next season. I had a one-year contract with an option to renew and I haven't taken up the option as yet. I still have to find out from the management what the future holds. Definitely I would love to stay. The club has been really great. The people around the club, the players... it's been a really great experience. We'll see what happens!
With Hunt having left, at the end of the day, it's football. You get used to these kinds of things. But, I mean, he's proved his worth in the league. His record is there for all to see. He's a great coach. But change is inevitable. If he does move, we'll just have to wait and see which coach will come in and then go on from there. But even there he's going to prove his worth. Like I said, he's got a proven track record. He always pushes the guys to the limit and that's what makes him a great coach. He's a winner. These things happen in football. Just like players come and go, coaches come and go as well.
To everyone at SuperSport, they've been really loyal. I just wanna say thumbs-up to them for their support and we want to go out there next season and compete for everything on offer, as is the norm at SuperSport.
Mark Haskins,
SuperSport United
