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Cape Town - Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane was impressed by his youngsters after they helped the team come back from a goal down to beat Stellenbosch on Wednesday.
Stellies were up for the battle at Loftus Versfeld and came out firing, taking the lead 35 minutes into the game as Ryan Moon headed home, but a few stern words from Mosimane at the break seemed to inspire a turnaround.
Themba Zwane slotted a penalty, albeit a controversial one, in the 57th minute before late goals from Sphelele 'Pitso' Mkhulise and Keletso Makgalwa secured a 3-1 Absa Premiership victory for the Brazilians.
Mosimane admits Stellenbosch put up a hard fight, often going in a bit too aggressively which led to Mogamad De Goede's red card for a reckless tackle on Rivaldo Coetzee, but he was pleased to see his younger players respond positively to the difficulties.
"We upped it a little bit (in the second half), I had to be harsh a little bit in the dressing room, raise my voice. You got to know that we made nine changes and the guys must play because you can't be waiting for Sirino, Kekana, Langerman, Mosa and them to help us all the time. They (youngsters) have to play," Mosimane told SuperSport TV.
"They delivered; they know also that it is their chance to play. But the difference was that Keletso [Makgalwa] and 'Pitso' [Sphelele Mkhulise], you know I hear sometimes people praising their MDC boys, we can also start talking about our MDC boys.
"Pitso is a similar goal he scored in the (CAF) Champions League when we played the Angolans here and remember I played him as a (position) eight and moved him, but the eight that ends up there is unbelievable, like an Iniesta hey, it's unbelievable. He's good.
"But Keletso knows how to score goals. One thing you must know about Keletso, if he can control [the ball] in the box, he always finishes, at training. So that's the difference.
On the opposition, he added: "They (Stellenbosch) are fighting, they gave us competition, it's okay but if you play the team that played tonight and they score three (goals), what else do you want?
"It's the same team that beat AmaZulu here when we had the game of (CAF) Champions League, they are maturing, they are coming up, we trust them, we believe in them, they are coming up nicely.
"I'm happy to have two strong teams who are coming up with confidence, but they kicked us to pieces in the first half and that created all this. The went on kicking and kicking and the red card set them off you know, so it's part of football."
