Sundowns progressed to the quarter-finals of the Nedbank Cup after beating VUT 2-0 at the Lucas Moripe Stadium, with Wayne Arendse and Phakamani Mahlambi getting the goals in the second half.
"Today's game was a very tactical one, we had to use our experience. It was never going to be easy, you can see this team has built confidence. After playing their first game, they believed they can go all the way," Mabunda told SuperSport TV.
"We as Mamelodi Sundowns know that it's never going to be easy for us, everybody that plays against Mamelodi Sundowns wants to showcase their talent, want to showcase that they can beat us.
"It was the instruction from the coach that we should respect the badge, the badge of Mamelodi Sundowns comes first, we make sure that we play to the best our abilities, make sure that we get the team to the next round and I'm really grateful that today we managed."
Mabunda went on to explain that they did not struggle to break down VUT in the first stanza despite going to the break goalless, as they were simply using their experience to wear them down.
"It's not a matter of struggling, they know our style of play. We had to manage and make sure that we don't lose concentration. We knew that it may not come in the first-half, it may not come in the first five minutes. But we needed to keep on playing, keep pushing the ball around, making sure that we sucked the energy out of their legs.
"And the more we moved the ball around, in the second-half you could see that they were started to slow down and that's where we got our opportunities, so we had to change the gear in the second-half and make sure that we get the goals and I'm happy that we got them."