Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos had plenty of praise for Orlando Pirates midfielder Thalente Mbatha, who marked his national team debut with a crucial equalizing goal to rescue a precious point against Uganda.
South Africa needed added time to salvage a 2-2 draw against Uganda in a 2025 AFCON qualifier at Orlando Stadium on Friday.
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Lyle Foster had opened the scoring for the home side in the first half, before two rapid goals from Denis Omedi and Rogers Mato put the Cranes ahead in a few minutes of madness.
Broos then turned to a Pirates duo for inspiration, bringing on Relebohile Mofokeng for only his second appearance in a national team shirt and Mbatha for his first cap.
The move proved fruitful as the latter struck home a volley from just inside the box in the 94th minute.
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Broos praised the 24-year-old's impact and indicated that he could be a possible start for Bafana's next match.
"I wanted to see from everybody what I wanted to see when we went down 2-1 and the way he [Mbatha] came in was very good. He was very good," Broos said in the post-match press conference.
"So, I think also for those players [new inclusions], we discussed it before the game, what will we do, do we go for players who's played competitive games, or do we go on with players who know the automatism in the team and so on?
"It was a choice to make, but the moment we had to do something [chase the game], we put those players on who are maybe a bit fresher and sharper, and Thalente was one of those players today," added the Belgian.
Bafana take on South Sudan on Tuesday evening in Juba, South Sudan in their second Group K match.
Kick-off is 15:00 (SA time).