Gallants stun Fagrie Lakay's Pyramids to setup Confed semi-final meeting with Yanga

The African dream continues for Marumo Gallants after the Premier Soccer League (PSL) stragglers qualified for the Caf Confederation Cup semi-finals.  

Gallants, who are facing relegation at home, stunned Fagrie Lakay’s Egyptian club Pyramids by 1-0 in the second leg of the tie at Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg on Sunday night.  

Celimpilo Ngema scored the crucial goal for the nomadic local side.  

The South Africans won the two-legged quarterfinals by 2-1 on aggregate after they played a one-all draw in Egypt.  

Though they have struggled in the PSL, Gallants have had an excellent run in the Confed Cup.  

Gallants finished at the top of their group to book their spot in the quarterfinals with a game to spare.  

Their run on the continental stage came as a shock for many as they spent most of the current domestic season at the bottom of the log table.  

Doing well in Africa helped Gallants to pick up form on the domestic front as well as they are on position 14 and just three points above automatic relegation spot with three games to play.  

It appears the decision to bring in coach Dylan Kerr, who has been coaching from the stands at the of January, helped to turn their fortunes around.  

Having played a 1-1 draw in the first leg in Egypt, the South Africans knew that a goalless draw was going to be enough to send them to the semis.  

But Gallants didn’t just sit back and defend the whole match. They took the game to the dangerous Pyramids.  

Gallants were the first to score on 39 minutes through Ngema and put themselves in a good position to secure a place in the semis.  

Pyramids did everything in the second half to find the equaliser but couldn’t break Gallants’ solid defence marshalled by experienced goalkeeper Washington Arubi.  

In the last four, Gallants are going to meet Young Africans (Yanga) of Tanzania. Gallants will travel to Tanzania for the first leg.