Mamelodi Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi is pleased with his team’s recent scoring form, which has seen them net 12 goals in their last three matches.

Sundowns emphatically defeated Mbabane Swallows 8-0 in both legs of the CAF Champions League second preliminary round and that was sandwiched up with a 2-0 victory over SuperSport United in the opening game of the Betway Premiership.

This scoring spree contrasts sharply with their previous three matches, where they struggled to find the net. They relied on an own goal to defeat Polokwane City in extra time in the MTN8 quarterfinal and were eliminated by Stellenbosch (2-0 on aggregate) in the MTN8 semifinals, raising concerns about Mngqithi’s coaching abilities.

However, these recent performances have eased those doubts.

“Like I said before, the previous match we played against Mbabane Swallows (in the first leg), we should have scored more,” said Mngqithi. 

“I think we should have scored more (in the second leg). Against SuperSport, I think we were very wasteful. Our first half did not yield anything and yet if you look at the chances that we created in that match we could have scored maybe three or four in the first half and we had a very big chance from the beginning of the match that could have opened the game. 
 

“And Ricardo Goss made a terrific save on Ribeiro’s shot and we created some moments that ended up not even resulting in a goal from a very good build-up attack where Lucas was in the 10-position, but I’m happy that the team is beginning to score because my main quest was to try and see this team scoring a lot of goals. 

“I believe we are in that direction, and they understand that I’m not a fan of just football without goals or attacks without termination. I think we are getting into that mode of knowing that, if we initiate an attack, we consolidate it to terminate it and we start again, we start again so that we create traction in terms of the number of chances we created, in terms of the number of TRS at goals because it would not help us to have possession and maybe for 15 to 20 minutes only we are going to go once and take a shot. 

“So, 20 minutes can only give you one shot at goal, it will not help. But if we try to have many segments of attacks that are terminated not necessarily to rush but to try and build a team that is geared at creating as many opportunities as possible, I think we are on the right track.”

Sundowns will aim to continue their scoring form when they host Marumo Gallants at Loftus Stadium on Heritage Day on Tuesday (17:25).