Halftime corrections proved key for Mamelodi Sundowns on Saturday as they overcame relegation-haunted Cape Town City to move closer towards yet another Betway Premiership title, coach Miguel Cardoso said after the 2-0 away.
Goals from Tashreeq Matthews and Iqraam Rayners on either side of the break ensured that the Brazilians effectively need two more wins to take the league for an eighth successive season.
“I think it was clear for all of you that it was another very difficult match,” Cardoso told reporters afterwards.
“We have big respect for Cape Town City who made the game a very tough one, particularly a very difficult first half. The way they were committed in terms of intensity to try and reduce our capacity, the way that they strategically approached the game brought us challenges.”
But Sundowns found solution to take all three points and pass the 60-point mark for the season.
“Of course, we have our resources, our capacities, our energy, our belief and our quality to find solutions and, indeed, we found a way to score the first goal,” Cardoso continued.
“I think the halftime break was decisive for us because during the first half I could see that we were not connecting the different sectors through the middle, there were spaces that we were not filling in the right way.
“At halftime basically we did the right corrections and the challenge to the players was to come with better organisation for second half.
“So we did it, we found a better organisation that gave us a very different second half, with much more control on the game.”
The 2-0 win was the ninth away triumph for Sundowns in the league this season.
“It's our job to try to find solutions as coaches, giving tools to the players to perform better and I think we finished the game with a very, very good performance. It was a deserved victory with a big respect for Cape Town City, because they showed quality, they showed desire, they showed passion, they showed also intention to fight,” the Sundowns coach added.