Polokwane City head coach Phuti Mohafe revealed that stifling Mamelodi Sundowns‘ midfield and wide spaces was the secret ingredient to their famous win.
Rise and Shine got their revenge from this season’s MTN8 quarterfinal defeat at the hands of Sundowns as a 1-0 smash-and grab from captain Bulelani Nikani in the 82nd minute was enough to see Mohafe’s troops move to fourth in the standings.
This was City’s first win over Sundowns in about five years and the former Royal Eagles (now Royal AM) mentor was full of praise for his charges who digged deep to upset the defending champions at the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium.
“I think what we have done well today was to manage those spaces in-between the defence and the spaces between the midfield,” Mohafe told SuperSport TV.
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“Whereby [Marcello] Allende and [Tashreeq] Matthews was operating, as well as the spaces that was used by [Thapelo] Morena on the side as well as the one that was used by [Asekho] Tiwani on the other side.
“So, we managed that perfectly well. We forced them to go wide but we set the traps that when they go wide, the moment they receive the ball, they must make sure that we pounce on them.”
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The City coach also admitted that they were unable to match Sundowns possession wise and had to be disciplined defensively in order to thwart any threat thrown at them.
“The things is we cannot match them in terms of possession,” Mohafe added.
“Because we’re a team that basically go for with the defensive structure. So, we made sure that we defend well against Sundowns.
“We block whatever that they throw at us, and we go on counterattacks. We also used the set-pieces; hence we scored from one, and that is the only way that as Polokwane City we do well against Sundowns.”