Mosimane hails Sundowns as they advance to semifinals

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane hailed the comeback of his side as they scraped through to the Telkom Knockout semifinals by beating Chippa United on post-match penalties on Sunday.

The quarterfinal tie at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium ended in a 2-2 draw before Sundowns went onto win 4-2 on penalties and book a semifinal draw against Lamontville Golden Arrows.

"It was a difficult game, we didn’t start in the normal way and didn’t control the game," said Mosimane.

"But it’s normal because we come from a loss last week."

Sundown lost their unbeaten record in the league when leaders Kaizer Chiefs beat them 2-0 at Loftus Versfeld.

"The guys are a little emotionally dented and again in the first 10 minutes of the game, the opponents scored.

"I didn’t think we’d come back because we were playing on the back foot," he added.

"But we showed character to come from behind twice and we controlled the possession.

"They were dangerous because they played on the break, which was normal because they had to try and protect their lead each time."

Mosimane said he told his players to risk a bit and it paid off in the end. "I told them we just have to go off it and put more pressure on Chippa.

"We never panicked and came back and equalised. That’s good. And then we won the game," the coach added.