Kaitano Tembo felt cheated when his SuperSport United side conceded the first goal in their 2-1 league defeat to Mamelodi Sundowns on Sunday.

United went behind after Themba Zwane netted in the 32nd minute, only to recover ten minutes into the second half when Dean Furman converted from the spot. The parity didn’t stay for long as Thapelo Morena secured the winner for Pitso Mosimane’s charges just after the hour mark.

Speaking after the game, Tembo highlighted the reasons behind their loss and among them was the opening goal which he believes was scored from an offside position.

“Look I think there were two things, the first one we didn’t have a good start, we were negative especially in possession, we never really wanted to go forward, to give them a little bit of problems defensively,” Tembo told SuperSport TV, according to Kick-Off.com.

“So they were very comfortable, especially their centre-backs, they could build-up from the back because there’s wasn’t really pressure.

“And whenever we went forward, I think the final decision was bad, we chose the wrong options and it’s either we rushed and the second thing was that our pressing wasn’t good,” he went on.

“Defending the cross because they scored from two crosses, the first one I thought it was offside I’m not so sure about that but I think it was offside. Nevertheless, we didn’t defend well.

“The second goal, we didn’t defend well as well, not stopping the cross and not defending the cross, that’s how they scored, that’s how the game was won. But I think we became a little bit brave especially when we brought in [Ghampani Lungu] and [Thamsanqa] Gabuza. We were a little bit adventurous, we gave them problems a little bit.

‘It’s disappointing to drop the three points, we wanted the points badly, especially at this time of the season but still, we have to credit the players, they kept on fighting, they went a little bit hard and we’ll keep on fighting until the end,” he added.