Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso hailed a much-improved performance from his charges as the champions edged Stellenbosch 1-0 in the Betway Premiership on Saturday, briefly going to the top of the table before Sekhukhune United and Kaizer Chiefs won later the same day.
A controversial penalty, converted by Peter Shalulile, handed Sundowns a narrow victory at the Athlone Stadium in Cape Town and the Namibia international his 130th goal in South African football – and a new Premier Soccer League record.
Cardoso said Sundowns had to dig deep in a match in which they dominated first but the
“As usual, a difficult team to play against because of the quality, obviously, that they have and the way they play, and two different halves,” said Cardoso.
“First half, I think, was the best we’ve played in the last month. Beautiful football on a difficult pitch, quite slippery, not big. I could say fantastic football we played in the first half.
“I don't think many people will take points off of them here at home. And we made, I think, one hell of a first half. 80 per cent of all possession, eight shots, four of them on the target and we played very well,” added the coach.
“Of course, that we knew that there would be a reaction, as it’s clear for everybody that Stellenbosch have a very tricky way to play. They put a lot of players with speed over the defensive line.
“We knew that we would have difficulties in managing the last part of the match, but we knew for sure that also eventually managing the game through the substitutions we made would be important.”
Towards the end of the match, Cardoso packed the defensive lines to make sure Sundowns kept their lead intact.
“I think is important that we highlight the spirit of our boys because you cannot always play ‘sunshine and piano’ but in other moments you need to gather the spirit and fight together, which is what we did.
“We kept our lead in, giving us the three points that not many people will take playing away against Stellenbosch,” the Sundowns coach added.