Competition between Mudau and Morena good for Mamelodi Sundowns - Mngqithi twitter facebook reddit twitter facebook reddit

Mamelodi Sundowns co-head coach Mngqithi praised the competition between Khuliso Mudau and Thapelo Morena following their win over Lamontville Golden Arrows on Wednesday.

Mudau produced a Man of the Match performance as the Brazilians maintained their unbeaten record in the PSL by securing a 1-0 victory over Abafana Bes'thende at Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium having started ahead of Morena.

Mngqithi felt that Mudau deserved his Man of the Match award after putting in a great shift in what was his first PSL match since he recovered from an injury that he picked up in a league clash against Chippa United in August this year.

"When he came out, we did say that he's probably the Man of the Match, because he had an outstanding performance on the day," Mngqithi told the media.

"He is growing in leaps and bounds and we are happy as a group, because we want the competition between him and Thapelo to stay strong because it's good for us, to have two people [in the same position] who can always give a good account of themselves.

"We are happy with how Mudau is coming up and we are hopeful he's more consistent in his performances because he helped us a lot."

The former Arrows coach also lauded the side's work ethic with Masandawana having only arrived back in the country on Monday following their Caf Champions League clash against DRC's AS Maniema Union on Sunday.

"I think it was a very tough match. We expected that it's not going to be easy. I think they didn't have a game in 14 days and that has given them a little bit of latitude," he continued.

"They started with the team we anticipated from the game against Sekhukhune, they were much sharper, they were faster on every duel, but we expected that."

The 2020/21 PSL Coach of the Season nominee was not too pleased with the pitch at the Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium as he believes that it made his players make technical mistakes.

"What made the situation a little bit more difficult was the pitch did not allow us to play our normal football, which could've helped us to maybe take the steam away from them by keeping possession," he added.

"But unfortunately the conditions were not very good and we made a lot of mistakes technically, which exposed us to a lot of counter-attacks and we know how dangerous they can be on counter-attacks.

"Overall, I believe the boys worked very hard and they gave a very good account of themselves."