Stuart Baxter wants Bafana Bafana to show some composure in the critical phases of the match in their 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Nigeria in Uyo on Saturday afternoon.
Conceding late goals‚ or letting slip a lead‚ has been a feature for this South African team.
They held a 2-0 lead in Uyo in 2014 thanks to Tokelo Rantie's brace but conceded late goals for a 2-2 draw in an Afcon 2015 qualifier.
Bafana held a 1-0 lead in a World Cup qualifier against Burkina Faso in Ouagadougou‚ conceding in the 91th minute for a draw.
Now‚ in the opening match on the path to Cameroon 2019‚ new coach Baxter has worked on defending a final 10-minute period in the build-up to the match against SA's nemesis team the Super Eagles.
"Yes‚ we've spoken about it.
"I think it's looking at the clock and you stop playing to a degree‚" Baxter said.
"You start hoping and stop believing.
"I think we've just got to be braver and say‚ 'Look‚ how do we deal with this game‚ how do we manage it?'.
"There are certain things you can do.
"But what you don't want to do is just be there on the field and not have a plan.
"We have dealt (in training) with a situation where we are leading.
"Yesterday we put on a scenario where we were playing XI v XI in the afternoon and I sent one of the players off.
"And I said‚ 'Right‚ you're leading 1-0‚ what do you do'.
"We've approached that and they did it very well yesterday.
"We've approached how we would kill the game off if we were leading‚ and we've approached what we would do if we were chasing the game.
"So we've got a couple of 'what if' scenarios‚and one of them is that last critical phase."
Bafana and Nigeria are drawn with Seychelles and Libya in their Afcon qualifying Group E.
- TMG Digital/TMG Sport
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