Mothobi Mvala believes there is still room for improvement as Mamelodi Sundowns prepare to face Durban City in a Betway Premiership clash at Royal Bafokeng Stadium on Saturday night.

Sundowns into CKO quarters

Sundowns head into the encounter on the back of a 1-0 victory over Marumo Gallants at Loftus Versfeld on Tuesday, a result that secured their place in the Carling Knockout quarter-finals.

The win provided some relief for the Brazilians following their shock CAF Champions League exit at the hands of Angola’s Wiliete SC last Friday.

Mvala returned to the starting line-up after a lengthy spell on the sidelines due to injury, featuring in a makeshift Sundowns side as head coach Miguel Cardoso rotated his squad.

“We needed to win the game’

The experienced centre-back acknowledged the importance of the victory, particularly in restoring confidence among the club’s demanding supporters.

“It feels great that we won and it was an important game for us as a team after being eliminated in the CAF Champions League,” Mvala said to Sundowns media.

“We needed to win the game so that we can win the hearts of our supporters and give them happiness again because we disappointed them the previous game.

“But it’s part of the game, we rectified our mistakes and tonight we gave it our all, but I still feel there’s room for improvement.”

The Brazilians face a City side that have gone five matches without a win across domestic competitions.

Although Eric Tinkler’s side have progressed to the group stage of the CAF Confederation Cup, they have struggled for consistency in the domestic league.

Mvala is hoping Sundowns make a positive start against the KwaZulu-Natal outfit after an unconvincing display against Gallants.

“In the first 10 to 20 minutes we were making mistakes because the confidence was not there. We were losing the ball cheaply but as the game went on we started getting confident and started playing well,” he said.

“You couldn’t see that it’s a new team (line-up), but you could tell this is Sundowns and the way the team played. I know we’re going to rectify things when we do our debrief. We’ll take it from there and I think in the next game, we’ll do better than we did in the previous one.”

Sundowns completed a league double over Durban City last season and will be favourites to claim all three points in Rustenburg, with kick-off scheduled for 20:15.