Mngqithi sees the positives despite Sundowns cup calamity

Mamelodi Sundowns joint head coach Manqoba Mngqithi insisted that the result was pretty much all that was missing as Masadawana crashed out of the MTN8 at the hands of Bloemfontein Celtic on Sunday evening.

Sundowns were unable to hit the back of the net, with Celtic ‘keeper Jackson Mabokgwane making several fine saves, while Victor Letsoalo netting in the second half to send Celtic into the semifinals, as the Bloemfontein side gained sweet revenge for defeat in the Nedbank Cup final just over a month ago.

“We had a little bit of dominance and balance in our attack and we created some good moments,” said Mngqithi after the match.

“It was just unfortunate that we conceded from a situation I thought was even not that dangerous. They managed to get in between our defenders at a set piece, and it was unfortunate that the goal was scored by (one of) the people we identified as their main guys.

“Otherwise the game had too many positives for me, I was encouraged a lot in terms of the fact that the team has just met in the last two weeks.”

Mngqithi was also happy with the two players he handed a first start to in a Sundowns shirt, Haashim Domingo and Peter Shalulile.

“Domingo played well as a ten, and Shalulile was a constant threat in attack, at times he lost possession cheaply, but he always looks to help the team. There is no reason for me to be agitated, I believe we did what we had to do but unfortunately we did not get the result we wanted,” added the Sundowns head coach.

“I believe we are building something very interesting, I am looking forward to seeing the team gel a bit more. Structurally we were good, we had good moments in the middle third. Our counter pressing, at times, was not as aggressive as one would like, but when we did it right it always benefitted us.”

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