"It means that the message, the character and attitude we're trying to build is strong," he said
Miguel Cardoso, Head Coach of Mamelodi Sundowns at King Zwelithini Stadium in Durban on Sunday. Photo: Gerhard Duraan/BackpagePix
Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso has heaped praise on his players after they secured a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Golden Arrows in a Betway Premiership match at King Zwelithini Stadium.
The game looked destined to end in a draw before Teboho Mokoena picked up the ball on the edge of the area and smashed it home to give Sundowns the win with two minutes remaining.
Sundowns’ new signing Siyanda Ndlovu had given the Brazilians the lead in the first half, but his goal was cancelled out by Junior Dion in the second half before Mokoena popped up with the decisive blow.
The Tshwane giants moved to 16 points, three clear of Orlando Pirates at the top of the table after six matches, although the Buccaneers have a game in hand.
“I’m obviously happy with the character we’ve shown because sometimes if you concede a goal like that, you don’t have the mental capacity to be resilient and to fight for something,” Cardoso said.
“So it means that the message, the character and attitude we’re trying to build is strong. No one can destroy the attitude and that is something that we have to state all the time.
“It will not obviously happen every time that we score in the last minute but if we believe, it will happen more frequently and the team showed belief.”
Cardoso calls for great maturity
Sundowns are back in action on Wednesday when they face Siwelele FC at Loftus Versfeld, looking to build on their four-match winning streak across all competitions.
Cardoso has called on his players to show greater maturity in tight games after Arrows fought until the final whistle in a match played at a frantic pace.
“What I didn’t like is that after we scored the two one we still went to go attack like it was the last minute of the match and we were losing by two goals,” he added.
“But we needed to have the maturity at that point to manage the game and keep the ball in the right places to finish the game in the few minutes that were remaining. There’s obviously some learning to do from this match so that we can become stronger in the future.”
Sundowns snap up ex-Pirates defender
Meanwhile, Masandawana have bolstered their squad with the signing of Deano van Rooyen as cover for the injured Khuliso Mudau at right-back.
The former Stellenbosch FC defender was released by Orlando Pirates last month after mutually agreeing to part ways with the club.
