Doc’s memory bank: Brilliant won the trophy for us

I will never forget when we played Orlando Pirates in the MTN8 final at Moses Mabhida Stadium. Itumeleng Khune was injured and we tried to expedite his recovery, in vain. Unfortunately, nothing really seemed to work in our favour as we tried to get him back on his feet. While we were in a technical meeting, deliberating over our situation, coach Rainer said, “Let’s play Brilliant. He’s ready!” We all looked at each other in amazement because we all felt an injured Itu could do the job, as long as he was on the field. That’s how much we believed in him. You must also remember that Brilliant had not played in almost 10 games prior to that clash, so the odds were heavily stacked against him, especially going into a Soweto Derby final. This was a sold-out affair and the last thing we wanted to do was to throw Brilliant into the deep end in such a crucial match. Coach Rainer told us, “Guys, believe me when I tell you Brilliant is ready.” Looking at his confident facial expression, I seconded him because I could tell he knew something we didn’t. Coach Stuart was hesitant and even asked if the medical team couldn’t, at least, get 45 minutes out of Itu? They flatly refused and said Itu was not an option at all. We went out there and won the trophy, thanks to Brilliant’s heroics because Pirates were all over us and only stopped by Brilliant. They had two clear-cut chances in the first 10 minutes but Brilliant was equal to the task. Brilliant won the trophy for us. When the final whistle blew, I ran all the way from the bench to embrace Brilliant because he really defied all the odds on the day.