Phuti Mohafe fears top eight slip after Polokwane City poor run

Rise and Shine have now managed just one win in their last seven Betway Premiership matches, leaving them clinging to a top half position with nine games remaining.

Mohafe delayed his post-match media duties, revealing he was engaged in a frank, heart-to-heart discussion with his players as they look to arrest the slide and revive their campaign.

"I was just telling them about the importance of winning the matches because of the performance that we gave and how we conceded and since it was not the first time that we conceded that way then we had to address it very, very seriously because now it is going to be a tendency of losing the matches at the end,” Mohafe said. 

“We lost against Pirates [Orlando] in a similar way, we attack, transition, ball on the left, a cross, not marking well and we concede. So, we had to address it very, very sharply and I think it's something that cannot come back again.

“So we have to grow as people and we have to grow as a team because we cannot repeat the very same mistakes every match that we are playing."

READ: Cedric Kaze urges Kaizer Chiefs to stay grounded despite back to back wins

The coach believes he’s already identified areas of concern. 

"It puts us under a lot of pressure because the teams that are coming from behind, they are slowly but surely catching up on us and that is something that we don't need. It's something that we don't want, we just want to keep ourselves afloat,” the coach explained.

“The four points that we were leading the pack behind us I think is going to be minimal considering the teams that are playing against each other today and tomorrow. So, with that per se, we wanted to win this match at all costs hence you see the performance from the boys even though we started a little bit sluggish but we missed chances also. 

“1v1 I think it was three clear, clear chances that we missed and the one comes top is one that Dlamini [Bonginkosi] was 1v1 with the keeper and he passed the keeper in the hands so the finishing under pressure is what we should revisit. 

“Composure in the box is what we should revisit, movement in front of the box is what we should revisit and resolute defending even under pressure is what we must revisit."