Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi has heaped praise on Peter Shalulile after he bagged his second consecutive hat-trick and breached the 20-goal mark in the DStv Premiership.
The Namibian produced a stellar performance to help guide Sundowns to a 6-0 thrashing of Golden Arrows as they collected all three points at Loftus Versfeld Stadium.
With the win, the Brazilians opened up a 14-point lead over closest rivals Royal AM in second place with 57 points from 25 matches, having won 17, drawn six and conceded only two defeats in the league.
Meanwhile, Arrows remain in ninth place on the table – level on 31 points with eighth-placed SuperSport United after they won seven, drew 10 and suffered seven defeats thus far.
“I’d like to credit to the boys, I think they are really showing the hunger, the interest, the intensity of the game was good, the mileage we covered first half was looking very good,” Mngqithi told SuperSport TV.
“Possession was good, number of passes completed good, box entries, all the stats proved that they wanted it more, no wonder they scored three goals in 30 minutes and we really appreciate that.
“I think when they say, ‘When opportunity meets hard work’, they refer to a player like Shalulile because he gives his heart and soul to the team, he gives everything to the club,” he said.
“And when a player gives so much, that’s why he ends up getting more and the other players are also willing to pass to him because they know he’s a very good team player and the camaraderie within the group is very good and we’re really excited with what these boys are offering.”
The Sundowns mentor also touched on the possibility of winning the quadruple this season, having already clinched the MTN8 title and are still participating in every competition on offer this season.
“We would never want to go there now, it would be naive of us to count our chickens before the eggs are hatched. We just have to keep going, take each game as it comes and give it our best shot because I believe we have the capacity to do better,” he said.
“But we have to take each game as it comes and focus on our processes in-house, in terms of the number of points you want to collect in the league and still in the matches that we’re going to play in the Nedbank Cup and the Caf Champions League.
“It’s a little bit strenuous [as they travel to Angola] but in life they say, ‘To whom much is given, much is expected’, so we have no choice. Each and every game we play is as important and we just hope our players would be able to give us an A game in Angola because it will be very important to come back with a good result away from home,” he concluded.
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