SuperSport United crashed out of the Nedbank Cup after a shock 2-1 defeat to ABC Motsepe League side Dondol Stars on Wednesday evening.
SuperSport made wholesale changes to the side that beat Cape Town City, as young centre-back Bilal Baloyi was given his debut while fellow young defender Neo Rapoo got only his second start and Serigne Niang was also handed his first start.
Matsatsantsa forced errors from Dondol in the early stages by putting them under pressure and after a couple of threats in the air, with 18 minutes played, Siyabonga Nhlapo eventually opened the scoring for United with a header from corner by Jamie Webber.
After starting on a high note, Gavin Hunt's charges dropped the tempo of their game towards the half-hour mark, as Dondol had some time on the ball but they were not a threat in the last third.
Stars gained confidence as the interval approached and put SuperSport under pressure but they could not carve out clear-cut chances and needed more of the same performance in the second stanza to get back into the game.
Dondol eventually levelled matters six minutes from the interval after Relebogile Molefe pounced on a chance in the centre of the box with a close-range shot from a rebound after his initial shot was parried by goalkeeper Ricardo Goss.
Desperate to restore their lead, Hunt made a double attacking change just after the hour-mark as Thabang Sibanyoni and Tendamudzimu Matodzi were introduced in places of Niang and Lepasa.
However, SuperSport opened themselves up at the back and Kholofela Monama gave Dondol the lead with 16 minutes to go after his low shot in the box took a massive deflection and wrong-footed Goss.
Tebogo Makungo had a big chance to give Stars a two-goal cushion with six minutes to go after going clear on goal and chipped a shot over Goss that missed wide of the open goals.
United applied the pressure in the dying minutes and Sibanyoni came close to snatching the equaliser in stoppage time with a looping shot kept out of the top corner by the acrobatic save from goalkeeper Siphamandla Gumede.
The ABC Motsepe League outfit weathered the storm in the tail end and held on to book a spot in the round of 16 at the expense of their illustrious opponents.
Confirmed line-ups:
SuperSport United: Goss, Rapoo, Nhlapo, Kewuti, Maswanganyi, Webber, Mbatha, Baloyi, Niang, Lepasa, Gabuza
Subs: Chigova, Moralo, Okon, Donn, Ngoma, Sibanyoni, Lungu, Maseko, Matodzi.
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