The mentality was good, everyone was running and willing to give in the extra work – Cassius Mailula

Mamelodi Sundowns aim to successfully defend their Premier Soccer League title as they went up three points clear of second placed Richards Bay in the DStv Premiership log standing after their emphatic midweek victory. Masandawana prepare to take on a resistant Royal AM side on Saturday at Chatsworth Stadium before heading into the last FIFA Break of the year. 

Newly promoted member of The Brazilians Cassius Mailula has been refreshing to watch ever since breaking into the senior team from Masandawana’s academy side, the 21-year old was impressive in his performances against Maritzburg United on Tuesday evening, scoring a brace in his first match of a complete 90 minutes in the premiership.

“It was a very important game for us to win because from the past weekend we had just lost a very important game that we had to bounce back strong and make sure that we redeem ourselves and also close off well in the last game of this year.”

Bafana Ba Style were in total control of their game against the Team of Choice with a rainstorm of goals from Thapelo Morena who was awarded with the Man of the Match prize, meanwhile Mailula and Haashim Domingo converted a brace each to secure a well-deserved victory. The 21-year-old attacker seems to be fitting well like a glove into the star studded squad, after making his debut in the CAF Champions League a few weeks ago, Mailula secured a hattrick against La Passe FC of Seychelles followed by a brace in the league.

“For me I think it was a very great performance from me [because] the most important thing is actually scoring. If I’m not scoring the team won’t win, so it was a good contribution to actually get the team to win and I’m glad that I even got my brace from that game.”

The KwaZulu-Natal based side wrestled their way back to winning in the DStv Premiership after three consecutive losses by defeating Golden in a Durban derby. The battle between the two teams will be the first one this season with both teams always providing a mouthwatering encounter whenever they meet. Bafana Ba Style have been successful in the last three battles with Thwihli Thwahla and the young Brazilian – Mailula is mindful of the dangers the host team may present on Saturday and provides a plan that may help the team be victorious.

“It’s not going to be an easy game, now [that] they have the confidence and feel that they can actually win this game because they’ve been losing games and they haven’t been doing very well as seen from their last three games. I think it’s going to be a very good game on Saturday, everyone in our team is ready and everything is going well so far.”

“[We will play with the] same mentality, you could see in the first half against Maritzburg we were playing a very high intensity game. We were going hard on them, pressing and [being] aggressive, we did everything together as a team and helped each other.”

“I think even the mentality was good, everyone was running and willing to give in extra work. As you know, Royal AM is also a very hard team that likes to press and play. In this game we will have to also have the same mentality that we had in the first half against Maritzburg.”

Mamelodi Sundowns meet Royal AM in the DStv Premiership on Saturday, 29 August at Chatsworth stadium. Kick off is at 18H00, live on SuperSport tv.