Gallants haven’t won anything yet, Malesela warns

Marumo Gallants coach Dan “Dance” Malesela has cautioned his players against thinking they’ve arrived amid the club’s sudden upturn in form, demanding that they play for honours.

Bahlabane Ba Ntwa elbowed Orlando Pirates out of the Nedbank Cup by beating them 5-4 on penalties in the round of 16 at Peter Mokaba Stadium on Wednesday.

The win extended the Limpopo side’s unbeaten streak to six across the league and cup. Malesela sees no need to be happy just yet, acknowledging they’ve achieved nothing tangible.

“You can’t pride yourselves when you don’t have the trophy in your hand… when you’re playing in the league, you’re sitting at No 11 and then you start boasting, what are you boasting about? I don’t take that nonsense,” Malesela told SuperSport channel after their game against Pirates.

“I want you to play for things. You must play for pride, for trophies. There must be something to show at the end of the season.

“If you play a season and you don’t win anything, there’s nothing to show, it’s a wasted season. You want to be No 13? You’ll be No 13 every time.”

Ndabayithethwa Ndlondlo gave Gallants the lead from the spot in the 20th minute before Bandile Shandu levelled matters 10 minutes later with a goal that eventually sent the tie to extra time.

Gallants keeper King Ndlovu saved one spot-kick before netting the winner in the shoot-out. Malesela praised Ndlovu for his heroics, disclosing he wasn’t on the list of penalty takers but decided to take matters into his own hands.

“The character shown by the boys is so huge. I also appreciate what the goalkeeper did… the bravery to say ‘hey guys, I don’t want you to miss any more, let me score’. So, it’s good. He wasn’t even on the list of takers but his bravery allowed him to take it and fortunately he scored,” said Malesela.

Gallants will learn their quarterfinal opponents on Monday when the sponsor, Nedbank,  and the league conduct the draw at SuperSport studios in Randburg.