Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Manqoba Mngqithi has expressed his delight at Sibusiso Vilakazi’s stylish return from a spell on the sidelines.
Vilakazi, who has had a season riddled with injury troubles, came off the bench to net the third goal in Downs’ 3-1 win over TTM on Tuesday evening.
And apparently, Vilakazi’s performance made a strong impression on Mngqithi, as the coach has hinted at giving the 31-year-old more game-time in upcoming fixtures.
“The goal opened space for Vilakazi. It is very encouraging to see Vilakazi coming back with a goal and Rivaldo Coetzee scoring that goal in the dying moments of the first half.” said the Sundowns coach.
“It is exciting to see our midfielders starting to get the goals because what counts the most is when you have a team that can score goals from different angles because it is very difficult for opponents to tell where the goals are going to come from.”
Despite the fine form in the current campaign, a segment of the Downs faithful have been vocal about their dissatisfaction with management’s overreliance on a limited number of players, with long-term club servant Hlompho Kekana ending up as one of the players being relegated to the bench.
But Mngqithi insists that hard work on the Chloorkop will not remain unnoticed.
“One thing we do with the coaches that I work with is to reward good performances.
“George Maluleka came on against Al-Hilal and he gave a good performance, and he was in the 18-man squad and he got an opportunity to play.
“Unfortunately, the captain [Hlompho Kekana] did not get a chance to play but he also did very well against Al-Hilal, but we have got another big one against Belouzdad, and we are hoping that some of the players can get a breather so they can help us going forward in the Nedbank Cup.”
The Brazilians face a crammed upcoming week, first taking on Belouzdad in the last game of the CAF group stages on Friday, before travelling to Chipa United and capping it with Orlando Pirates in the Nedbank Cup quarter-final on April 15.