Mamelodi Sundowns co-head coach Manqoba Mngqithi has reacted to his side’s second-leg win over Golden Arrows in the MTN 8 Semi-finals.
Mngqithi saw his side secure an important 3-0 win at home against his former side following goals by Peter Shalulile, Divine Lunga and Neo Maema.
“I must say, the boys gave a good account of themselves,” Mngqithi said in the post match press conference.
“They knew we wanted to go through and we made it clear to them that we wanted to win this match, because for us every match we want to win, we did not look at what we got in the previous match, which is normally the case where you say I’ve got a goal away from home. I will try and protect that, because this game could have turned differently if we came with that mentality.
“And even after first half, when we scored two goals first half, but still in the second half, we said wew want to win the second half, we don’t want to play a draw in the second half, so let’s play to win the second half and forget about the first half.
“Because it was the same message that you wanted, even for this return leg, to make sure that we win the encounter, not to hope for the result that we got away from home, and our experience I think we played a role in this space.
“I must say Reyaad (Pieterse) played a very, good match, very unfortunate to get injured, because it would have been nice to see him continue as well like others.
“The two central midfielders, AJ (Andile Jali) stood his ground, showed his experience. He was the captain of the team today and did not disappoint, for him to get a man of the match award, it was worthwhile. We are happy with that.”
The two teams played a 1-1 draw in the first-leg at Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium towards end of the last month, Downs have now booked their spot in the final after a 4-1 win on aggregate.