Marumo Gallants head coach Dan Malesela says he had to address a mental challenge with his players at halftime of their Nedbank Cup last 8 round win over Baroka FC at the Peter Mokaba stadium.
The coach believes the challenge might have came when his charges saw some of Baroka regulars not starting the game.
Malesela also adds that there were other things that did not work in their opening stanza but he’s not complaining about getting to the semi-finals.
“I just think it’s a mental thing,” Malesela told the media after the game. “It is so difficult sometimes to control the mind when you see other things because I think our players realised that some faces that are familiar from the Baroka team are just not there.
“And you know the mind went oh it’s gonna be easy. You can’t underestimate anybody. The fact that these other players have contracts means a lot.
“We addressed that at halftime and we got better in the second half. But also us having two defensive midfielders did not work well for us in the first half, it’s just not our style.
“We tried because of the pressure that we had after Ngema got injured. But in the end you don’t complain, we won the match, it is good we go to the semis.”
Gallants’ set-piece play wasn’t to the best on the day either and Malesela says that’s a technique issue and not related to the mental challenges he spoke about.
Malesela also believes his side was denied a penalty in the second half. Man of the match Mpho Mvelase looked to have been brought down in the box however a free-kick was awarded. The coach doesn’t blame the referees.
“You now referees are referees they were not sure,” the coach added. “But Mvelase is the one who made them think that no it is not because he carried the ball and carried it out for a free kick instead of going with the ball to the penalty spot.”
Malesela says a home draw in the semis would be very nice.
