Marumo Gallants FC goalkeeper Washington Arubi has exclusively revealed to KickOff how well the downfall of Soweto giants Orlando Pirates was planned the night before.
Siwelele Sa Marumo broke the Buccaneers supporters' hearts at the Petrus Molemela Stadium on Tuesday through Jaisen Clifford's goal right at the end of the game, very much against the run of play.
The 39-year-old Arubi was one of the top performers for Gallants in the thrilling encounter as he produced breathtaking saves against the Pirates players who spent most of the second half camping at the Gallants' half.
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Despite being first on the scoring sheet, Pirates lost the match 1-2.
"It was a tough game, at least I managed to perform and help my team grab three points," Arubi tells KickOff.
"The win means a lot. In this league it's very important to collect points as soon as you can at the early stages of the season. It helps in building the momentum.
"As for yesterday's game, we sat down, we talked, we planned well. We told the boys that we need to carry on from what happened at Durban, we need to believe. It helped that we managed to come up with three points," the shot-stopper added.
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"The plan was to be confident in how to close them down, because you know Orlando Pirates are always going to come through the central park, so closing them down it forced them to put in a lot of crosses, and you know the story about crosses, it's something anyone can defend.
"Our coach loves to play the ball, he doesn't want the ball to be kicked forward for the sake of it. It was all about confidence."
