Cape Town - SuperSport United midfielder Dean Furman believes the end of the CAF Confederations Cup campaign was the reason for their slump in the Premiership.

Matstsansa lost to TP Mazembe 2-1 over the two-legged final in the continental cup competitions and since then have only registered one league victory in seven games.

This form has dented the Tshwane giants title hopes - after missing out on climbing the table with the several games they held in hand over their domestic rivals.

However, given the fact that they have still played only 11 games this season, there's still hope of moving within three points of leaders Mamelodi Sundowns as they currently trail the Brazilians by 12 points with three games in hand.

"There are a lot of factors that have contributed to us finding ourselves in this position," Furman told IOL Sport.

"The legs were tired after a long year that saw us travel the length and breadth of the continent. But the main reason is that after the final the hype died down.

"We were carried by the high we were on in the knockout stage of the Cup. It was easy to psyche ourselves when we went to Zambia in the quarter-finals and to Tunisia in the semi-finals where I believe we played our best football this year.

"After the final, there was no hype. I believe that we would have struggled even if we had won it because the euphoria that surrounded us representing South Africa at the highest level wasn't there anymore."