Dan ‘Dance’ dancing at the chance of reliving Nedbank Cup 2016 memories

Dan “Dance” Malesela and his Marumo Gallants charges dancing all the way to the quarter-finals of the Nedbank Cup could well see another fairy-tale script for Malesela in the Cup of dreams having defied the odds previously by winning it with a first division side.

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After managing to edge Orlando Pirates 5-4 on penalties after the teams finished extra-time level on 1-1 in the last 16-round at Peter Mokaba Stadium on Wednesday, surely memories of a remarkable run with TS Galaxy back in 2016 where they beat Kaizer Chiefs in the final of the Ke Yona Cup came back flooding in his mind.

But, there is still a long way to go for Gallants, however, Malesela was happy to see his side advancing to the next stage of the tournament, but he revealed that it was not easy coming up against Bucs.

“Look, it was a very difficult game. It could have gone either way during the 90 minutes. We tried to play a bit during extra-time, towards the end of the 90 and the 30 minutes of extra-time. But it could have gone either way and to be fair and honest, they had more chances than we did. Well, some half chances and stuff like that. But we also had our chances and we had the most glaring one right at the end of the match which we couldn’t convert,” said the Gallants coach.

“But one appreciates in the end we managed to win the match via penalties. It doesn’t matter, when you win the match you win the match, we would have liked to win it in the 90 and not go to extra-time.”

Malesela congratulated his team for their fighting spirit, especially goalkeeper King Ndlovu, who saved Linda Mntambo’s sudden death penalty before the shot-stopper scored the winning spot-kick.

“We appreciate the effort that the boys have put in, it was not easy and we hope will continue (to win tough games). The character shown by the boys is so huge. We also appreciate the goalkeeper, and the bravery to say, ‘guys, I don’t want you to miss anymore, let me score’.”