Defending the Nedbank Cup title would make it a good season for Marumo Gallants. This is the view of coach Dan Malesela, who promised that they would do their best to defend their title.

Gallants reached the semifinal of the knockout competition after a 1-0 victory over struggling Baroka at Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday.

Sede Dion scored the only goal of the match late in the second half to send Gallants through to the last four.

“I want us to be grateful to have a season and to look back and say we did this campaign. We want to win every time,” Malesela told the media after the match.

“The players know that when we lose I get angry and it looks like a funeral. But we must deal with the semifinal first, then deal with the final if that’s supposed to be.

“But the main one is to deal with the final. Then you can start thinking of other things. But as long as the application of our minds is correct, there are things to achieve.”

Malesela was also not pleased with the attitude of the players in the first half and at the interval he asked them not take Baroka for granted. 

“It’s so difficult sometimes to control the mind when you see other things because I think our players realise that some faces that are familiar are just not there,” he said.

“And the mind said it is going to be easy. You can’t underestimate anybody. The fact that these players have a contract means a lot.

“We addressed that at halftime and we got better in the second half. Also, having two defensive midfielders did not work well for us in the first half.

“In the end, we don’t complain. We won the match. It's good we are going to the semis. But overall, I’m looking at a situation where we have been under pressure from time to time travelling and playing matches, from leaving Durban at night and arriving here at 3am.

“We now have a bit of a break, which will helps us a lot towards the next matches.”