Pitso Dladla revelling after Durban City cap impressive season with top eight finish

The Citizens overcame TS Galaxy 2-1 in the Ke Yona final at the New Peter Mokaba Stadium with Jean Lwamba scoring the winning goal to cancel out the own goal he scored earlier in the game, alongside a Mfanafuthi Mkhize equaliser.

They also ended two points clear of Stellenbosch and Siwelele in eighth place on the league standings, despite losing their last game of the season 1-0 to AmaZulu, and having not won in their final eight games of the campaign.

Dladla took over the post initially when Gavin Hunt went to Stellenbosch in December before being installed as interim boss until the end of the season after Sinethemba Badela's departure in February.

Reflecting on a successful season, a delighted Dladla said he was proud of their achievements.

"For us to have finished inside the top eight is absolutely huge for this team. We obviously know the tactical areas we need to work on — not just from this game [against AmaZulu], but across the entire season.

"After we won that high-stakes semi-final against Casric Stars, we ended up having to navigate four intense league games before the actual final. It was a massive psychological challenge to prepare for those matches because every single player naturally wanted to preserve themselves to ensure they started in the final.

"We played that gruelling Cup final on the Saturday, and then immediately left for Bloemfontein to play Siwelele, and from there we immediately played Stellenbosch.

"So the severe congestion of the domestic fixtures affected our rhythm a little bit, but the structural set-up this time around was a little bit different because of the winter World Cup schedule.

“Normally we play the major cup final after the league season is completely wrapped up, so we had to dynamically deal with the situation — but it was an undeniable challenge for us as a squad.”