Mosimane: 'The guys were nervous in the first-half'

Cape Town - Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Pitso Mosimane admitted his side "were nervous" in the first-half but was happy to progress to the quarter-finals of the Nedbank Cup after a 2-0 victory over Vaal University of Technology (VUT).

Mosimane gave plenty of fringe players in his squad an opportunity to start the game against the VUT students, who campaign in the fourth-tier of South African football.

Masandawana though needed two goals in the second half from Wayne Arendse and Phakamani Mahlambi to settle the contest with the amateur outfit not helping themselves by missing a penalty when the score was still 1-0.

Mosimane said after the game: "I'm happy that we went through [to the next round] and there's been a lot of talk here, too much talk but it's okay, what is important is to beat the students and they must lose against us and we progress.

"But they are a good team. They played well, they are well coached, well organised.

"But we were also nervous a little bit, the guys were nervous in the first-half, we couldn't make easy, simple passes."

The Sundowns mentor was especially unhappy with his team's lack of technique when crossing the ball into the penalty area of the opposition.

Mosimane continued: "Only technique let us down, they were open, especially with balls from the side, they were opening in the heart of defence.

"We could identify it but our crossing let us down, we were crossing low balls and balls that were going to them.

"But at least in the second-half we managed to sort it out."

The draw for the Last 8 of the Nedbank Cup will take place on Tuesday.

- TEAMtalk media