Sly Mosala has praised his players following their victory in the MultiChoice Diski Challenge final at the Nike Football Training Centre in Pimville, Soweto on Saturday.
Tuks edged their rivals Mamelodi Sundowns 2-1 on penalties after the match finished with the sides tied 2-2.
"The match had developed in different ways throughout. We had our chances, they had their chances. They had possession more than us. I think once again we defended well, we stood our ground. We stuck to our game plan and we did the business," Mosala said to supersport.com.
The match proved to be a dream final as both teams managed to score within the first 19 minutes. But they struggled to score from there on until the extra time.
"I think if I remember very well, I highlighted it at halftime. I sad 'listen, we dropping nicely, we nice and compact.' When we won the ball we were able to counter but the final pass from our break attack wasn't good enough, it was cut out every time. That's what was letting us down," he revealed.
"But at the end of the day we managed to hang on. Like we did against SuperSport, like we did against Celtic and all the other clubs.
"I think that was our strength, we were mentally strong in terms of what we wanted to do under pressure.
The coach believes that the match could have been won in regulation time had they capitalised on the opportunities that came their way.
"Listen, we had our own chances, they had their own chances. If I remember, early first half and early second half we created two quick chances. We stole the ball from them, from a good pressing and then we won it. It was then one-on-one with the keeper but they saved them.
"If we scored those two I think the game was going to be won early. Same applies to them, if they scored their own goals, the game was going to be won. So it was 50/50 I can say," Mosala continued.
HIGH STAKE
The youngsters had a tough time during the penalty shootouts, which only had three successful kicks. But that didn't come as a surprise to the Tuks' coach.
"It happens, especially at this level. At this kind of competition whereby the stake is too high. One thing that we knew is Lebo (Ngubeni) will be able to do the job for us. It's not for the first time him saving penalties. We trust and believe always that he'll top in doing the business.
"So he needed to save and we needed to score. And then the game was going to be won like we win it.
Mosala then revealed that they had planned to go all the way in the competition and is pleased because they were able to meet their objectives.
"Honestly, I discussed that, I remember my technical team mentioned it. Because when it was under-19s I wasn't going to take it. But when it came to under-23, i said 'listen I want to take it, I want to win it.'
"They said 'now that it's under-23 you want to take it back, because you know that you have plenty of players that can play from the first team. Now you want it, you want to go to Germany and all that,' i said 'yeah why not?"
"If you check this year, it suited us nicely because the bulk of players are under 23," mentioned the jubilant coach.
SUCCESS
Mosala believes the Diski Challenge was a tremendouss success in it's debut season and hopes it will be more stronger going forward.
"Yes definitely (it was a success), once again we must thank MultiChoice anf PSL to come up with this initiative. We needed this for a very long time. Remember in Gauteng we had a reserve league that wasn't organised and it died. We don't even know what happened about that.
"But this one came strong. Whereby even some of the senior players want to play and forget that they are senior players. It's entertaining, it's competitive, you get everything. A player that's coming from an injury, he gets fit quickly in this competition.
"So I believe it was a great success this season. And I believe it's going to be a little bit different next season, of which we hoping for the better thing."
The coach also talked about what it means for the Tshwane outfit to win the Diski Challenge.
"Again it's big exposure for the club, for the players and the technical team going to Netherlands. We are going there and then obviously we will experience different things.
"It's going to be a great experience for the whole club, the players, the technical team and everyone," he concluded.
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