Mamelodi Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena praised his side’s dominance and mentality after beating Richards Bay to reach the last 16 of the Nedbank Cup.

The Brazilians booked their place in the next round of the competition after edging out Richards Bay 3-2 at Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Tuesday evening.

A brace by Peter Shalulile and a goal from Mosa Lebusa cancelled out Nkanyiso Zungu and Katleho Makateng to steer Sundowns over the line.

“Congratulations to Mamelodi Sundowns for putting us through to the next round, I’m very proud of the players and their effort,” Mokwena told SuperSport TV.

“And congratulations to Sipho (Mbule) and I thought there were a lot of very good performances today and the score suggests that it was a little bit closer but very good dominance today.”

Mowkena went on to bemoan his side’s missed chances but praise his players for a job well done against a stubborn Richards Bay outfit.

“That has been our story, the entire season we create a lot of chances and today I thought we played very well. Ledsedi (Kapinga) was good, (Bradley) Ralani was good, Sipho was good, (Thabiso) Kutumela came on and was good, Mosa was very good and scored an important game for use,” he added.

“Rushine (De Reuck) came on, was very good, Mothobi (Mvala) was good, it was good to see Riva (Coetzee) on the pitch, a one full year actually, so congratulations, very happy or the yellow nations, congratulations now into the next one.”

When asked about whether or not Richards Bay should have been awarded a penalty, Mowkea said: “Difficult, I don’t know how they saw it from so far but okay, it is what it is.

“We have to have this mentality where we dig deep, we show character and good resolve, congratulations to the players, congratulations to Sundowns.”

Photo by Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix