Gallants hope coach will be back for cup clash

Marumo Gallants will be hoping coach Dan Malesela recovers from illness after being unable to take his place on the bench on Thursday when his side were beaten 1-0 by Stellenbosch at the Cape Town Stadium.

The two clubs meet again just four days after their Betway Premiership fixture when they clash in the Carling Knockout quarterfinal at the Petrus Molemela Stadium in Bloemfontein.

Malesela did travel with the squad to Cape Town but illness meant he had to stay in his hotel room rather than go to the stadium.

In his place, assistant coach Duncan Lechesa took charge of proceedings and felt although they lost to Thabo Moloisane’s 75th minute header, they put down a marker or two for the return meeting between the two clubs in Sunday’s cup tie.

“I think we dealt with the threats, and we denied them what they wanted to achieve,” he said of the stiff defensive blocks that Gallants had in place.

“We said, ‘let them have the ball’ and they tried to get behind our defence, especially on the left hand side but we rectified that.

“But going back home, I think we need to throw everything at them. So we're going to change little bit now to give to go and throw everything at them.”

Lechesa felt the Gallants players believed Stellenbosch were beatable, even if they return from Thursday’s game in Cape Town without anything.

“Obviously they've seen that a win is doable. The only thing is, we need to convert whatever chances we get and try to be strong,” added Lechesa.