Beating Downs one of my top feats - Larsen

Magesi tactician Clinton Larsen ranks winning the Carling Knockout at the expense of a star-studded Mamelodi Sundowns outfit as one of his “best achievements” in his coaching career that spans more than two decades.

Larsen’s Magesi, who are new in the Premiership after gaining promotion, came from a goal down to stun favourites Sundowns 2-1 in the Carling Knockout final at Free State Stadium at the weekend. The Tshwane giants took the lead just nine minutes before halftime courtesy of Iqraam Rayners before Tshepo Karora restored parity three minutes into the second stanza. Delano Abrahams netted the winner in the 87th minute.

“This probably ranks right up there with my best achievements as a coach... 21 years of coaching, I started in the 2003/04 season in the NFD with Durban Stars... it’s been a long while and I’ve been to two cup finals, that alone tells you how difficult it is to get to a cup final but I am happy that I’ve been to two and won two, so [it’s a] 100% record,” Larsen said.

It wasn’t the first time Larsen stunned Sundowns in a cup final as his then less-fancied side Bloemfontein Celtic beat the Brazilians 1-0 to lift the Telkom Knockout in 2012 in Durban in what had remained his first cup final as a coach before Saturday. 

The Magesi coach is convinced that beating Sundowns with Magesi was harder than doing it with the now-defunct Celtic, citing lack of experience in his current side as one of the reasons he found it hard to do the unthinkable against the Tshwane heavyweights, who had Bafana Bafana regulars in Ronwen Williams, Mothobi Mvala, Aubrey Modiba, Khuliso Mudau, Teboho Mokoena, Bathusi Aubaas and Rayners starting in this final.

“This one was a lot more difficult. Back then in 2012, even though they [Sundowns] had the Hlompho Kekanas, the Billiats, we were not playing against the national team. This felt like playing Bafana Bafana tonight, six of these players started the other day and a few were on the bench, so that was so much quality.

“I thought that also I had so much experience in that Celtic team in 2012... the John Arwuahs, the Kurt Lentjies of this world, had a lot of games behind them and this group, I’ve got six of my starters with just six games in the PSL, so in terms of the collective experience, we are low in that department.”

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