A NIGHT TO REMEMBER: how Pitso's Mamelodi Sundowns confounded the continent

MIRACLE IN ALGERIA: Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane

Today I come to praise Pitso Mosimane. As one of those football addicts who stayed up way beyond midnight last Saturday night, it was a memorable 90 minutes on the Mamelodi Sundowns roller-coaster. Did I say memorable? Make that  bloody miraculous!

After a long day which featured come-from-behind wins for Bafana Bafana (on penalties over Lesotho in the COSAFA quarter-finals), a missed penalty for Cristiano Ronaldo (in another fascinating failure for Portugal) and a first win for Allister Coetzee’s Springboks, it was entirely unexpected.

We burned the midnight oil expecting to see another brave failure in Africa from our PSL champions. When they got to 20 minutes at 0-0, I tweeted that the match situation was already better than expected.

Truth is, our KaboYellow title winners went to Algeria with little to hope against their 2015 champions ES Setif. To list the problems for South Africa’s leading club in full would require several pages, but let’s just say their preparations weren’t ideal, they didn't expect to be in Africa, contracts need settling, new blood has yet to arrive.

In goal, Wayne Sandilands found himself thrust in front of a packed May 18th 1945 Stadium (read more about that name at the foot of this story) as a late stand-in for PSL goalkeeper of the year Dennis Onyango of Uganda and Kennedy Mweene of Zambia.

In midfield, with Bongani Zungu off to Portugal, Tiyani Mabunda need a last-minute visa application to get him out of the country for his continental debut. A word too for Leonardo Castro, who opted to return from Colombia to help out despite the imminent end of his one-year deal in Tshwane.

Whispers told us central defender Ramahlwe Mphahlele was left at home chewing over a move to Kaizer Chiefs, striker Anthony Laffour had “disciplinary problems” and it felt like Pitso Mosimane's usually impeccable preparation was in disarray.

With Ramadan to consider, the game didn’t start until after 11pm, no South African club has ever kicked off so late. And of course, no club has EVER played in the African Champions League group phase after being knocked out of both continental tournaments - only the disqualification of AS Vita Club had landed them back in Africa’s most important cup competition.

And Sundowns previous trips to North Africa hardly instilled confidence. Remember 0-4 against Tunisia’s CF Faxien, 0-3 against Egypt’s Al Ahli, 2-4 to Sudan’s Al Hilal?

They trotted out in Setif, memorable only for football and a massacre (105 were shot dead by French police on May 8, 1945) with a record of six defeats and two draws in their previous eight games north of the equator.

What was it Pitso said a few weeks ago about travelling north? "You see how it is. It's a jungle."

Under pressure from the first whistle to the last, we witnessed a 90 minute miracle. An away win to start a qualifying process Sundowns should never have been involved in.

First the long-suffering Mabunda silenced the rowdy crowd with a stunning first half goal against the run of play. Then, playing on the transition, the tireless Keagan Dolly - hero of Bafana’s only AFCON 2017 win against Gambia - finally threaded a ball through to PSL player of the season Khama Billiat.

The priceless Zimbabwean wove his magical thread through the Algerian defence and stuck it away. At 2-0, an unthinkable victory was confirmed. Setif had barely forced a save out of the impeccable Sandilands.

And then, in injury-time, a roar from the outraged fans, loud bangs from thrown fireworks and a full-scale pitch invasion. Chaos as Sundowns sought shelter by the bench. Fearful Setif players stayed on the pitch, looking on with some trepidation but trying to re-assure the opposition of safe passage from the stadium.


Footage of the trouble HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xX4EPod8avQ




Though our SuperSport and SABC commentators were doing their best from studios in Johannesburg, we were not granted visuals of the missiles thrown, the security guards trying to keep control.

Referee Mahamadou Keita from Mali, who did Sundowns few favours on an historic night, tried to get the match restarted but in the end, the final whistle went amid the chaos.

Much will be said, hopefully by SAFA to CAF, about a night of high drama and crowd chaos which, like the trouble at Euro2016, must be punished.

But this week, let’s just bask in the glory of South Africa’s finest Champions League performance in years. With Nigerians Enyimba at home on June 29. Pitso and Sundowns can finally give the nation something to shout about.

To read about the horrific events of May 8, 1945 in Setif: http://5pillarsuk.com/2015/05/08/8th-may-1945-remembering-algerias-setif-massacre/

WELL HELLO DOLLY: after years of waiting, South Africa finally gets a glimpse of Keagan's genius

DOLLIGHTFUL: Keagan Dolly after his 1st goal in Gambia

I said hello, Dolly, 

Well, hello, Dolly

 It's so nice to have you back

where you belong

You're lookin' swell, Dolly

I can tell, Dolly

You're still glowin'

You're still crowin'

You're still goin' strong

Those are the lyrics of one Louis Armstrong, in a hit single which swept around the world in 1964 after the launch of “Hello Dolly”, the musical of the same name.

I was three at the time but here we are, 52 years later and Keagan Dolly, aged 23, has finally become a hit with South Africa’s national football team.

Dolly, from the same Westbury suburb west of Johannesburg as Everton’s Steven Pienaar, should have been a Bafana Bafana veteran with 30+ caps by now.

But years of non-selection by the agent-manipulated national head coach Ephraim “Shakes” Mashaba meant that his two assists and two fantastic strikes in Gambia on Saturday marked just his SECOND international appearance.

Dolly, who moved from Ajax Cape Town to Mamelodi Sundowns for R7m in 2014, was actually given a debut that year during 3-0 win over Sudan in Omdurman.

Since then, Mashaba has used various excuses to keep South Africa’s finest young player out of the senior squad, ranging from youth, lack of fitness, being on loan at his former club Ajax Cape Town, and - infamously - refusing to pick Keagz for the AFCON 2017 clashes against Cameroon this year “because he is involved in the U23 friendly in Brazil”.

While Rivaldo Coetzee, three years younger, was consistently selected despite obvious failings, Dolly was persistently ignored despite his progress in the PSL with Pitso's Masandawana.

That glaring omission came back to haunt Shaky on Saturday. Dolly, rampaging down the left, made two goals for low-scoring Orlando Pirates striker Thami Gabuza before thumping home two of his own from outside the box. Imagine, we asked, if Dolly had played in all the Group M qualifiers? Would that left foot have been the difference against Cameroon?

It was Dolly’s day. So much so that it’s hard to imagine him returning to PSL champions Mamelodi Sundowns after the Rio Olympics, he is surely bound for a European apprenticeship in September.

CHAMPION: Keagan Dolly in action for Sundowns

Amid the bizarre suggestions that this was some stroke of Mashaba genius or that we had suddenly found a superhero, the more enlightened Bafana fans recognised the record 4-0 away win in Bakau for what it was: too little, too late for our boys.

Dolly himself said: "There’s more to come, watch this space!

“This has been some year for me. I have won lots of things, selected for major awards and now being called for the national team and do this.

“It gives me a wonderful feeling but I want to continue working hard so that I repay the faith my coaches have placed on me.

“The coach told me to shoot when I am within range and I did exactly that in the second half and the rest as they say, is history.

“With the team leading 2-0 and cruising, I told myself ‘give it a go’ and boy I have never felt so good.

“My career is really blossoming but will continue to work hard, keep my feet grounded and put more effort in whatever I do.”

The sky appears to be the limit now for Dolly as Sundowns head in to the group stages of the African Champions League by default and Bafana prepare for COSAFA and the Olympics.

But soon the World Cup draw will outline the way ahead for South African football, where Dolly will become the central figure in Bafana’s plans.

It matters not who leads the nation in to those qualifiers, Dolly - and other youngsters ignored despite Danny Jordaan’s now-forgotten Vision 2022 plans - are the future for South Africa football. The nation will insist on a youthful future after Dolly’s heroics, no matter who leads the team.

Though a national coach who picks on form, youth and is capable of understanding modern football would be a major advantage in what promises to be a turbulent road to Russia in 2018.

KING OF THE JUNGLE: Pitso Mosimane's champions must make the most of their THIRD chance in Africa

Giant leap for Sundowns: Pitso Mosimane is back in Africa

“Everyone says it’s difficult for South African teams in African competitions, but the referees were cheating – you saw that. How can we play?

“In CAF competitions, for South Africans, it’s very difficult, you saw them cheating.

“I thought what happened to us in South Africa against AS Vita was bad, but this was unbelievable! We had people from Medeama coming to our bench and fighting us, and we had to fight back. It’s unbelievable.

“The new Fifa president has a lot of work to do in CAF. Africa is behind. It’s a jungle.”

Those were the words of Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane after his side slipped out of the CAF Confederations Cup - without live television coverage - against SC Medeama in Ghana on May 18.

Then came last week’s bombshell: AS Vita, the club who knocked Masandawana out of the Champions League a month before, had been expelled from the tournament after fielding an ineligible player.

In the space of an hour, Sundowns - having just set a record of 71 points in a 30-game PSL season - had broken another record. They became the only team in the history of African football to reach the group stages of the African Champions League after getting knocked out of BOTH continental competitions.

Mosimane’s surprise was palpable. Drawn in a tough group with Nigeria’s Enyimba, Orlando Pirates’ nemesis ES Setif from Algeria and our old friends Zamalek from Egypt, Sundowns face massive changes to their planned off-season with six gruelling clashes between June 17 and August 23.

Pitso said: “As you can imagine, we already have players who have booked their trips home and holidays.

“Of course it's exciting to be back in the Champions League. That’s the big one, and we want to be in that space. It wasn't the way we intended, but we'll take it.

“In South Africa we have the quality to play in continental competitions against other top sides. We have to take what we learnt from our matches.

"We know it's win at all costs in Africa, but Sundowns will maintain their integrity and we hope represent the country well.”

Compare those quotes with his rant at the start of the story. Pitso is going back to the jungle… with or without television coverage or much visible enthusiasm from their fans.

Bizarrely, despite their earlier failed efforts, Sundowns have enough depth to confound and qualify for the semi-finals of the African Champions League, to restore some of South Africa’s battered pride.

Keagan Dolly’s Rio Olympic preparations may have to take a back seat, but Sundowns can become Kings of the Jungle. 

Soweto's season of discontent: Chiefs, Swallows and Cosmos slump while Pirates fly the final flag

BETTER DAYS: me with coach Zeca Marques in 2013
when Moroka Swallows won the MTN8 trophy

SOWETO, the beating heart of South African football, has never had it so bad. Ask Moroka Swallows fans after the once-mighty Dube Birds plunged in to the third division over the weekend.

Right now, South Africa's most famous suburb are pinning their hopes fervently to the coat-tails of Orlando Pirates.

The SOuth WEstern TOwnship, which emerged in 1904 as an evacuation camp at Klipspruit municipal sewage farm, was always going to be the centre of excellence. Teeming with 904,000 potential football fans - the working classes are footballers, the posh tend towards rugby - the modern game has been dominated by Soweto’s finest for decades.

All over the world, from Rio to Manchester, Jozi to Lagos, it’s the lads from the streets who emerge at the top of the beautiful game, shaking the dust from their boots to earn millions with their feet. Soweto was no different. The great players, the great clubs.

But not this season.

Kaizer Chiefs, who won the PSL with a record 69 points last season, could see that mark broken by new champions Mamelodi Sundowns, who would claim 71 points if they win their final game against Platinum Stars on Saturday.

Chiefs on the other hand need a season-closing win over in-form Chippa United to reach third - they could even slip as low as 5th without it. The title was gone weeks ago, with barely a sigh.

Steve Komphela’s side have drawn 11 this season and offer defensive midfielder Willard Katsande as their top scorer with six goals. They have won ONCE since downing SuperSport United on February 20 two months ago, a run of 12 games featuring a sole (fortunate) 2-1 triumph over lowly AmaTuks.

But while #komphelaout has featured prominently on the social networks, so too has #tinklerout as rivals Orlando Pirates have struggled to emerge from the lower reaches of the PSL after their exhausting journey to the CAF Confederations Cup final.

Tinkler enjoyed a brief recovery - eight wins punctuated by one defeat - and he will finish in the Top Eight if the Buccaneers beat SuperSport United in their final clash on Saturday.

But going in to Saturday afternoon’s soggy Nedbank Cup semi-final against Free State Stars on Saturday, Pirates had slumped once more. They needed a fantastic own goal and a late rally to see off Ea Lla Koto 4-2 and surge in to the final at the Peter Mokaba Stadium on May 28.

While Komphela talks about “playing football on Mars”, Tinkler accepts “We have been disappointing”. Together the Soweto Giants could end trophyless and out of the top three for the first time since 2008. Already Pirates are assured of their worst league finish in the PSL era.

And what about the old giants, Moroka Swallows? We all know the story there. Struggling with the R15m debt left by former chairman Leon Prins, a buyer cannot be found. PSL relegation has been followed by a torrid NFD season of non-payment and coaching merry-go-rounds.

Now headed for the ABC Motsepe League after an unprecedented relegation double, the less said about the Dube Birds the better, though I would ask this: how can the PSL executive award themselves R65m in bonuses when a club like Swallows are struggling?

And then we come to Soweto’s fourth club. Coached by Jomo and owned by Mr Sono. They haven’t won anything since the famous ex-footballer decided to take on all available roles at the club.

Never far from relegation, Jomo Cosmos face a possible points deduction over an unregistered player this week and a final battle against Maritzburg United to stay up on Saturday.

A lost title for Chiefs, a worst ever finish for Pirates, bottom of the NFD for Swallows, possible relegation for Cosmos. It’s not been a great year for Soweto on the football field.

Pirates alone are clinging to the hope of silverware. But to do that they’ll have to beat Stuart Baxter, the SuperSport United coach who took Chiefs to their greatest heights in recent years.

His side’s wet, wet, wet 2-0 win over NFD upstarts Baroka on Saturday was pretty emphatic. At least it ended the debate about how the Nedbank Cup final could be played in Baroka’s hometown Polokwane.

But Tinkler won’t worry about any of that. For him, it’s win or bust. It’s Pirates v SuperSport in BOTH the last game of the NFD and the Nedbank Cup final.

No doubting who holds the popular vote. Pirates can save the season for Soweto. But Baxter won’t mind that.

A TALE OF TWO CHAMPIONS: Leicester and Mamelodi both won 3-1. But the similarities end there.

WE SHALL NOT SLEEP: Andrea Bocelli at Leicester's King Power Stadium

Ah, the Saturday of Champions. On consecutive channels, courtesy of SuperSport television. We saw the champions of England and South Africa, Leicester City and Mamelodi Sundowns, both surge to convincing 3-1 wins just days after being crowned champions of their respective nations. But apart from the scoreline the two events had little in common.

Those football fans fortunate enough to afford DSTV’s mushrooming monthly subscription surely won’t have missed the yawning chasm between two title-winners on the Channel of Champions.

On channel 203 we had the glory of Leicester City. Confirmed as champions earlier in the week, the Year of the Fox went in to full swing at about 4pm. After days of massive celebrations in pubs and gathering places around the midlands town, their clash with Everton was pure joy from start to finish.

With tickets for their crowning glory being touted for R20,000, the King Power stadium was packed to the rafters with 32,524 fans carrying co-ordinated blue-and-white flags.

Global tears were shed when Italian classical tenor Andrea Bocelli, a man who lost his sight in a footballing accident, fulfilled his promise to coach and compatriot Claudio Ranieri and serenaded the football-speaking world with Nessun Dorma (Never Sleep).

Nobody slept. Top scorer Jamie Vardy scored early on, then smashed home one penalty and sent a second over the bar, whistling towards Uranus. The town of Leicester, thrust in to the spotlight, didn’t give a damn. They’re in the Champions League next year.

It’s been that kind of week. Owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha didn’t just buy a R700 000 Mercedes for every player, he also provided free beers and fresh pizza for every fan.

Exactly 8 328 miles and one channel away at the Lucas Masterpieces Moripe Stadium in Atteridgeville near Pretoria, it was free tears and frozen Pitso for a paltry crowd without flags or razzmatazz on DSTV 204 at 5pm.

Up against the Ghanaians Medium SC, a dour 80 minutes was spent trailing by an away goal before top scorer Leonardo Castro, player of the season Kharma Billiat and sub Cuthbert Malajila banged home three in 7 minutes to unearth a 3-1 first leg triumph in the CAF Confederations Cup.

But even after that late landslide, it was impossible to miss the stark contrast between the two events which kicked-off within half-an-hour of each other. Both Leicester and Pretoria are cities more famous for their rugby teams than their football clubs.

With the Tigers and the Bulls over-shadowed, Leicester and Sundowns made history this week. The Foxes won their first title in 132 years. Mamelodi celebrated their record seventh PSL title.

But while Leicester are at the centre of their community, the old HM Pitje Stadium in Mamelodi remains unused, caught in the middle of a political quagmire between the council and billionaire owner Patrice Motsepe.

No fans, no razzmatazz: Mamelodi Sundowns

With a paltry crowd less than 10 percent of the gathering at Leicester, there was simply no razzmatazz - not even Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula - to provide South African football with a touch of joy.

No flags, no champagne, no fireworks. Nothing.

Pitso Mosimane tried to lift the mood of course. His post-match summary of Sundowns late rally was hilarious. Looking to find out just how he managed to lift Masandawana after a dreadful first half, South Africa’s most successful homegrown African coach told us:

“It was very naughty. But my players are still celebrating, they are only human. At half-time, I didn’t say a word. I promise you. I sat in my corner and drank coffee.”

And really, that sums up our Saturday of champions. Leicester went out and told the world they were champions with free beer. Mamelodi sat in their corner and had a cuppa. It’s got to tell you something about the state of our football.

CHAMPIONS! Hail Pitso, six months after the Sundowns fans wanted him out

RUNNING THE RISK: Faty Papy in hospital last December

We could talk about the racism of Matthew Theunissen today. Just been listening to the fool on the radio. But where will that get us?

Let's talk about Wits University's professional football team instead. A club long divorced from the Clever Boys it once represented, a club with a tiny following, punching above its weight.

On Saturday, they might have had two penalties against Chippa United in a 1-1 draw which essentially ended their championship dreams.

And as coach Gavin Hunt said afterwards they had chances “from one yard, my daughter could have stuck one away” as he neatly side-stepped the issue of his top scorer James Keene remaining benched throughout the 90 minutes.

Or perhaps we could talk about their 25-year-old Burundian Faty Papy collapsing again during Saturday’s game. When the same thing happened on December 8 last year, he was rushed to hospital and emerged saying: “I’m fine, the doctors have told me not to speak to the media.”

But nobody will talk, even the chatty Gavin Hunt won’t pick up the phone. And let’s be honest, nobody cares about Wits, who play at a ground with a capacity of 5000 and one of the biggest budgets in South African football thanks to Bidvest.

The point is, Wits' failure to put the pressure on Mamelodi Sundowns has been a major let down this season, as the Soweto giants have failed to make anything approaching a title challenge.

Pitso Mosimane’s men could even break the record 69-point haul Kaizer Chiefs mustered last season. If they win their last three games - one of them against Wits on May 11 - they will set a new mark of 71 points.

Even a defeat against Hunt’s men - who need to be Aces tonight - is unlikely to dent Sundowns title challenge, which should be all wrapped up if they beat lowly AmaTuks tomorrow night.

That would take Masandawana and their billionaire owner Patrice Motsepe to SEVEN titles since the PSL was formed in 1996 - not bad given the club were repossessed by Standard Bank from Zola Mahobe in 1988.

That makes Sundowns by some distance the dominant force of the PSL over the past 20 years, a fact not lost on KaboYellow supporters.

What is lost is this: in September last year, Sundowns fans were trying to remove Mosimane from his position as head coach after defeats against Mpumalanga Black Aces and Golden Arrows.

REMEMBER WHEN: Pitso Mosimane gets a police escort

And before that, in April 2013, angry fans forced him to rely on a police escort to emerge safely from Sundowns’ game against Bloemfontein Celtic at Pilditch Stadium.

But since he took over from the Dutchman Johan Neeskens in December 2012 and finished 10th, Mosimane in his three full seasons has finished FIRST, SECOND and this season FIRST.

And even as he achieved the sensational run, Pitso has drastically cut Sundowns infamous spending, sorted out the behind-the-scenes problems and created a cohesive unit at Chloorkop.

So when Pitso makes us laugh with his “eating grass” post-match interviews, when he sheds tears after defeat, stop and think a moment. He’s the best local coach around, Bafana Bafana should never have sacked him, he works hard and created a new CBD in Tshwane.

But then tomorrow night all that might be forgotten. The job will be done. Pitso will be King. Until they lose a couple of games and the vultures begin to hover.

SIMPLY NDORABLE: the astonishing rise of Orlando Pirates and their goal-happy TENdai!

TEN FOR TENDAI: Ndoro is in a rich run of form

SIMPLY NDORABLE. The fairytale of Tinkler Ball. An Orlando Pirates revival that has become too impressive to ignore. And too bizarre to leave unexplored.

In truth, WWWWDWWWW since February 21 should never have happened. Coach Eric Tinkler was widely touted for the axe after the CAF Confederations final defeat at the start of December, but his chairman Irvin Khoza just never got around to chopping off his coach's head.

The man popularly known as #Tinklerout remained in charge confiding in me “what will be, will be, that’s football” as he struggled from game to game before Christmas. At one point the mighty Buccaneers, double treble winners just four years ago, looked a hopeless case in 13th position, just above the top three. Unthinkable for a side NEVER relegated. 

The Sea Robbers, as their nickname suggested, were all at sea complete with leaking ship and powderless cannons.

It got worse. Kermit Erasmus went overboard without warning, and left for France, Thamsanqa Gabuza walked the plank, disappearing from the squad with apparent burn-out. Tinkler, scrambling for a life jacket in an ocean of despair, turned to a 27-year-old from Luwewe in Zimbabwe called Tendai Ndoro. It was sink or swim.

A Chicken Inn product, Ndoro was impressive at Aces, where he scored 14 goals in 41 games, before the big move to Soweto. But despite what looked to me to be a sharp pre-season, Ndoro languished on the bench at Pirates for months. He was lucky to even get a seat as Tinkler stuck with Erasmus, Gabuza and the curiously sluggish Lehlohonolo Majoro.

TOLD YOU SO! My tweet in September last year
questioning the disappearance of Tendai Ndoro

On September 15, 2015, I tweeted about Ndoro being surplus to requirements and sent an SMS to Eric Tinkler, a coach who is always polite enough to reply. He said Tendai was not training well, and had confidence problems. 

But needs must. Let’s return to the low point: 3-0 down at half-time to rock-bottom Maritzburg United on January 16, Ndoro comes on at half-time, fails to score but they grab a point, 3-3.

There’s a few up and downs after that but February 21 is the key point. With Gabuza and Erasmus gone, Ndoro scored in the 3-1 win over an in-form Aces in Mpumalanga.

And then the run began. With Chiefs STILL stuck winless since February 20, here’s the full story of Pirates revival with Ndoro’s goals listed:

21 Feb: 3-1 Aces (a) Ndoro 1

27 Feb: 1-0 Celtic (h)

5 March: 2-0 Chiefs (a) Ndoro 2

12 March: 5-0 Cosmos (h) Ndoro 1

16 March: 0-1 Wits (a)

3 April: 3-1 Cosmos (a) Ndoro 2

9 April: Free State Stars 1-0 (h) Ndoro 1

16 April: Arrows 4-1 (a) Nodder 2

23 April Sundowns 2-0 (a) Ndoro 1

Nine games in all competitions, one defeat.. and TEN GOALS for Tendai Ndoro. Pirates have gone WWWWLWWWW while rivals Chiefs are on a run of DDLLLLLD since mid February. Incredible.

During that time, Tebogo Moloi, the long-running assistant boss at Pirates, has disappeared on long leave. Fitness coach Warren Engelbrecht and effervescent goalkeeping trainer Rowen Fernandez sit alongside Tinkler.

Captain Oupa Manyisa has been out injured and has yet to return. Gabuza has played twice for Bafana but not for Pirates. Crowds at the Orlando Stadium have dipped below 3,000. The Iron Duke called a press conference not to announce exciting new developments but to mark the retirement of near-legendary centre-back Siya Sangweni.

The pressure has never eased. Even at 0-0 against Sundowns on Saturday night, the Ghost were haunting Tinkler. Saying he was tactically inept, should have made changes, was hopeless.

But Tinkler just gritted his teeth and held on, as he has ever since Roger de Sa left for Ajax Cape Town two years ago, even when unlamented Vladimir Vermecovic was making a hash of it. Tinkler doesn’t quit. He hangs on despite the odds. And it worked. Down to ten men, Ndoro scored in extra-time, then made the second goal.

And Tinkler, through to the Nedbank Cup semi-finals, was left smiling: “We were down to 10 and I had to play that way. I knew they would be vulnerable to the break away… and they were.”

Ndoro, with his streaky hair and slick demeanour said simply: “We work hard. We work as a team. We want the Nedbank Cup.”

Now breathing over the shoulders of arch-rivals Kaizer Chiefs in the PSL and threatening the top four, Tinkler and Ndoro lifting silverware would be the icing on the cake.

And given the position at Christmas, a true footballing fairy tale.