Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi has hailed Gift Motupa as one of the best finishers in the country.
Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi has hailed Gift Motupa as one of the best finishers in the country.
Mngqithi raved about Motupa after the striker created a penalty late in the first stanza that was scored by Ricardo Nascimento and got the second goal for Sundowns in the last 19 minutes, which was his first for the club.
"Not the best [performance] but business-like, we wanted to win the match, we had to give ourselves to the team, everybody ran," Mngqithi told SuperSport TV.
"Because we knew we were playing against a very complicated team, Maritzburg is not an easy team for anyone. And I always tell people Ernst [Middendorp] is one of the top coaches.
"He may have been unlucky but his strategy at times can put you off hey, we knew it's not going to be an easy one and we had to take the few chances that we got and we were fortunate on the day to get a penalty.
"Gift [Motupa]'s work and the group, to try and give us a high press and from there we get something, it's always good for the team and also the second goal I think he took it very well," he said.
"We've always known, he's one of the best finishers in the country, I even spoke with him before the match that 'today is your day to score' and when he scored he immediately pointed at me because he knew that I told him 'today is your day' and I was very happy for that.
"But more than anything else I want to give credit to my technical team, coach Rhulani [Mokwena], coach Steve [Komphela] and coach Wendell [Robinson, goalkeeper coach] for the cleansheet, the analysts I think they are always spot on," he went on.
"The medical department for getting everybody into the team, the support staff, there's a lot of good things happening behind the scenes, the management as well have been supportive in all our travels, our journeys, they've been there.
"And once I again I want to thank the President and the board of the club because the resource we have at times make it easier for us to compete in all fronts under circumstances that are very difficult because when you count the number of matches that these players are expected to play it's very difficult and I really want to them for that."
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