Mamelodi Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena was full of praise for coach Daine Klate after their 6-1 victory over NB La Masia in the Nedbank Cup round of 32.

The Brazilians secured their place in the last 16 of the competition after claiming a commanding victory over the Motsepe Foundation Championship outfit at the Dobsonville Stadium on Tuesday evening.

Gaston Sirino bagged a hat-trick while Matias Esquivel, Terrence Mashego, and Lebohang Maboe also got their names on the score sheet for Sundowns, while Fuad Johnson scored the only goal for La Masia.

Mokwena was pleased with his side’s performance on the day but also commended La Masia for putting up a fight and standing their ground against the Brazilians.

“Let’s congratulate Mamelodi Sundowns for going through to the next round, much better performance for sure, so a little bit more of the personality we want to see,” Mokwena told SuperSport TV after the game.

“And the subs were good also, so very proud of the team, congratulations. Also commiserations to La Masia you know, I like teams that play, the coaching, the detail from Daine Klate’s team, so huge heads off to them for coaching a very good team and advocating for a very good style of play.

“Unfortunately that today they lost but they’ve got a very good team and they play good football, very good players, I’m sure they’ll have a very good season and I wish them all the best for the rest of the season.”

Mokwena was pleased to see that his fringe players got some much-needed game time and proved their worth when given the opportunity.

“Ja, we have to try, we’re going into that space, this time of the season you need everybody and when they put up their hands like this and performance well with a good attitude, good energy, the intensity is good, good mental focus, zero mistakes, it’s much better,” he added.

“We made one or two mistakes, okay it happens, I’m happy with the bravery in the second-half especially, to try and get more on the ball, not to be too worried about the surface of the pitch and we tried.

“(Bongani) Zungu was good stabilized things, (Thembinkosi) Lorch came on good assist, Lebo Maboe was strong contender for Man of the Match (award), Gaston was excellent, good hat-trick as we ask from him. Good overall performance and congratulations to the team and the entire football club,” he concluded.

Photo by Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix