Parker: Sundowns were under pressure

TS Galaxy interim coach Bernard Parker believes Mamelodi Sundowns being under pressure to win worked to their advantage at Mbombela Stadium on Tuesday evening.

It was the Rockets' penultimate match of the season against the table-toppers who looked to stretch their lead and put one hand on the title in their final game of the campaign.

However, the Rockets put up a gallant fight and secured a 3-2 win, which was the first since Parker took over on interim basis last month.

READ | Sundowns' title hopes dented after shock loss

“Thank you, as I said in the pre-match interview because of the psychological factor we have over them. At the same time, they were more under pressure by them having to score a lot of goals and having to win the match and it was also good for them to win the match going to play the Champions League final – wish them all the best for the Champions League final,” Parker told SuperSport TV after the match.

“But as we say in football we don’t have answers but solutions and we came up with a solution in terms of us being disciplined, taking the responsibility and at the same time having the unity especially in our defending and just hit them on the counter-attack because we have been practising on how they keep a high-line and for us just to make sure we attack the space behind with the young man Mahlambi.

“He has been so far our dangerous player for the last couple of games so why not get the ball early to him, create one-v-one in the two previous games he got us a penalty and again today so the game-plan was spot-on in terms of us playing to our strengths,” Parker added.

Mahlambi didn’t conclude the match and was substituted around the closing minutes of the second half following an ankle injury.

“The medical team says he got an ankle injury and I think maybe he got a knock. He is a strong lad, I wish him a speedy recovery and I know he will recover in time because we will only have our next fixture up to ten days, But all credit goes to the team, technical team everybody played a part in this in terms of making sure that we bring the energy back into the team making sure we bring the players back to their best which we did," Parker added.

“Also, at the same time that we continue when I took over on how we wanted to play and we build on that and today it paid fruits for us today so I’m happy that the squad got the belief back we got ourselves back and with the quality Mamelodi Sundowns possess. Wow, they are a great team, they’re successful team. I’m just proud of the boys that they managed to put up a big fight against them,” Parker said.