Richards Bay coach full of praise for his players after Nedbank Cup win against Siwelele

The KwaZulu Natal side conceded first when Grant Margerman got an opener for Siwelele early in the first half but Sbangani Zulu equalised in the second half, with the man of the match Lundi Mahala getting a brace for Richards Bay.

It wasn’t long until Thabani Zuke scored an own goal, reducing the margin between the two teams and Siphelele Luthuli getting a third one in extra time for Siwelele.

Gabriel says winning in penalties shows how his team were hungry for a victory in Bloemfontein.

"We were 1-0 down against a strong Siwelele team, it was not easy to come back. We had to fight back, we had to change match tactics, change personnel, reshuffle the squad. We came back and we eventually got the equaliser,” Gabriel said. 

“The game goes to extra time. We've got 2-1 up, we've got 3-1 up, lots of excitement in the camp, maybe we were a little bit too excited, we allowed the opposition back into the game. 

“They came back 3-2, made it 3-3 in front of the home crowd. Then the game eventually goes into penalty shootouts, Siwelele, we are kicking the final kick to win the game, our keeper Ian Otieno makes a brilliant save and then we go in there and then we equalise and then Ian Otieno comes in sudden and death and kicks the winning penalty. Huge congratulations to our team today."

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The Natal Rich Boys failed to convert their chances in the first half and the coach adds that the technical team tried to motivate the players during half time which clearly worked in their favour.

Richards Bay captain Simphiwe Mcineka finally made it to the starting line up after a long term injury, only being substituted after 90 minutes as he limped off the field.

The coach says he did expect him to get cramps during his first game back.

"Coming back from a long injury lay off, we put him to the starting lineup today, he had a good 90 minutes, he went into extra time and he was showing signs of cramping and that was expected because after a long injury layoff to just come in and play 90 minutes and go into extra time, it had a lot of load in his muscles,” the coach added. 

“We saw that he was cramping, we had to give him the opportunity to exit the pitch, put in our replacements there and take us to victory but the doctors will be able to give a more precise diagnosis on his injury and maybe from there, we'll be able to tell how he is really doing."