Marumo Gallants interim head coach Raymond Mdaka says Mamelodi Sundowns knew to target the left side of their defence in the Nedbank Cup.
Gallants, finalists last season, lost to Sundowns again in the round of 16 after going down 3-1 to Peter Shalulile's hat-trick.
Boitumelo Pheko scored a stunning long-range goal in the first stanza which proved to be a consolation goal.
Read | Shalulile hat-trick sends Downs to NBK Cup last 8
Mdaka suggested that Sundowns overloaded their left side of defence occupied by Pheko after they realised that he lacks experience.
"What a good game, when you play against Sundowns you don't make a mistake, a slight mistake then you get punished," Mdaka told SuperSport TV.
"They pushed hard from the first minute. We thought we would be able to absorb. They over-loaded the right-hand side and the left back that we used today we were trying to rest a number of players that went to Algeria.
"He was not the usual left-back playing, so they realised early and then they worked more on that side, we got caught, we conceded two goals, always it would be difficult playing against Sundowns you concede two goals."
Mdaka continued and praised his charges for pushing Sundowns to their limit, considering that most of them are not regulars.
"But credit to the boys, at some stage you couldn't see that these are the players who have not played for some time. I think it was a good performance from our boys, it's just that the result went the other way from the little mistakes we did in the first half," he added.
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