Bernard Parker admits TS Galaxy undone by familiar flaws in Nedbank final loss

The Rockets went down 2-1 in Polokwane, falling short despite a spirited effort after Parker had spent the past week trying to lift a squad low on confidence following an 11-match winless run and the departure of former coach Adnan Beganovic.  

Speaking after the match, Parker conceded the team may not have done enough to fix what has been a recurring Achilles heel.  

"We've conceded a lot, I think we've conceded in every game [in 2026] – even in the draw we had against Stellies, we conceded as well," bemoaned Parker.

"So, for me, coming in I had to make sure we deal with that leak, we dealt with that leak well in terms of being proactive and aggressive at the same time.

"Our front foot defending, we dealt with that well according to the understanding of the players and how we want to solve that problem, and we had a 0-0 last week.

"Coming into this week, I felt it was something good in terms of keeping a clean sheet going into the cup final and just building from there on, and believe you me, if we had kept a clean sheet today, we would be speaking a different story now because we had a goal.

"So it is something that myself and my technical staff fixed, but I guess you cannot fix things in football overnight."

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The former Kaizer Chiefs striker argued he’d seen signs of improvement prior to facing Durban City, who beat them twice in the league this season. 

"The team responded well in terms of making sure that we fix the defensive setup, in terms of the principles that needed to be applied on the day, and if we would have applied those same principles today we would have been speaking a different story," he added.

"But it's football, and us as football people, we say if you lose concentration, you're more likely to get punished."