Ben Youssef has endured a difficult start to life at Durban City, with his side suffering a 1-0 defeat to Sekhukhune United before going down 2-1 to Orlando Pirates in extra time in the MTN8 quarter-finals, despite playing the entire second half with 10 men.
The Buccaneers had opened the scoring at the Orlando Amstel Arena through a Patrick Maswanganyi penalty in the 37th minute after Tshepang Moremi was brought down inside the box by Brooklyn Poggenpoel, who was shown a red card for the challenge.
Despite playing with 10 men, City levelled just seven minutes after the restart as Jean Lwamba Lubumba fired home from close range.
With neither side able to find a winner in regulation time, the match went into extra-time and just when appeared destined for a penalty shootout, a spectacular Ghampani Lungu volley proved decisive in the final minute of extra-time.
READ: Orlando Pirates defeat 10-man Durban City in extra-time to reach MTN8 semi-finals
City next face Golden Arrows on Wednesday and Ben Youssef says his side still need time find their feet.
“The conversation with the board was we would do a proper analysis after 15 games and that’s a mandate we agreed on and there’s a certain number of points we need to achieve as well,” the new coach explained on IOL.
“There are three or more players that still need to join the team in the next two weeks and some will be registered next week and so when we have the entire team ready and the fitness is also proper then we can judge the team.”
“But as coaches we don’t make excuses, we continue to work and next week we have two more crucial games and only results can help you keep your job,” he added.