Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Manqoba Mngqithi has admitted that "it got scary" after they needed extra-time to narrowly beat Polokwane City 1-0 in the MTN8.
Sundowns created plenty of chances in the first stanza but the game got more balanced in the second stanza and they had a scary period, after they were down to ten men in the dying minutes of extra-time following the red card of goalkeeper Denis Onyango.
The Brazilians eventually scrapped through to the semi-finals after an own goal by City defender Thabang Matuludi early in extra-time.
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"I think we made it difficult for ourselves, we had a very good first-half, where we created probably seven or eight good chances and when we could not take those chances it got scary," Mngqithi said on SuperSport TV.
"Because you know when you don't take your chances in a cup match, they can just get one and punish you and the truth is, Denis had to take one for the team and we now had to restructure and make our lives even more difficult.
"But I'm happy that at the end we won the match because I do believe we deserved to win it," Mngqithi said.
The 53-year-old mentor went on and suggested that the game could have opened up if they converted one of their early chances.
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"To be honest, I was concerned when we missed but I was happy with the number of chances we created. I was happy with how much we spent time in the opposition box, because that for me was the most important thing," Mngqithi said.
"That the game must not be played in our half but it must be played more in the opposition box. I think we did that very well but we need to be a little bit more clinical because this game would have opened early with the chances that we got. We hit the upright twice, we were just unfortunate on the day I must be honest," the former Golden Arrows tactician added.