Mngqithi praises Lakay as Sundowns keep unbeaten record

If it wasn’t for Lyle Lakay’s 60th minute goal against Stellenbosch in the DStv Premiership this past Saturday, Mamelodi Sundowns would have been condemned to their first defeat of the season.

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Stellies had gone up before half-time, forcing Masandawana to chase the game in the second half.

Lakay scored his maiden goal of the season in the DStv Premiership and it proved to be an all-important equaliser
as it cemented the Brazilians’ unbeaten run and kept their hopes of an invincible season alive.

Sundowns co-head coach, Manqoba Mngqithi was impressed with Lakay’s performance but still tipped him to improve certain aspects of his game.

“Lyle played very well offensively … there are some areas that he still needs to work on defensively. But I will not blame him because I think the wind was also a factor. There were many balls that we allowed to drop in front of the opposition which created problems for us.

“But overall we are very happy with Lyle and the goal he scored made a big difference for us,” said Mngqithi.
Masandawana welcomed back a few players, one of those being Rivaldo Coetzee, who had missed four games through injury.

On his return, the 25-year-old was given less than three minutes against Sekhukhune United, supposedly to give him a feel of the pitch and acclimatise to the pace of the game, before he was handed a starting berth against Stellenbosch and reunited with Andile Jali in midfield.

The duo have formed a formidable partnership as a solid bridge between attack and defence.

“Riva gave a good account of himself, we know what he can offer. We wanted him to control the tempo of the game and assist us in our build-ups as well, which I think he did well,” said Mngqithi.