No time to drop the ball for Sundowns

Mamelodi Sundowns are sitting at the summit of the DStv Premiership but not quite as comfortable as they would want.

The defending champions lead Richards Bay by five points and Downs head coach, Rulani Mokwena says they cannot afford any slip ups, given the influx of fixtures coming up after the Fifa World Cup.

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Masandawana will face rivals Orlando Pirates on December 30 at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium. Mokwena is confident that his team will be able to maintain a satisfying distance between themselves and those gunning for their heads.

“This is not a season where you want to catch up when it comes to points because the improvement from the rest of the teams is gigantic,” said Mokwena, who has noted advances made by other top-flight sides.

At the same time, however, the former Buccaneers mentor says stringing together wins on the spin remains a stumbling block for many sides.

“The depth in the squads is not so big and you can see how difficult it is for most of the teams to consistently get two or three wins on the trot. We need to try and if we don’t win, of course it will be a failure for this team. At this point we are looking to get a consistent flowing performance on the pitch,” said Mokwena.

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This season, Downs have registered nine wins and still have some way to go to reproduce last season’s total tally of 19 wins. But Mokwena is hopeful that the Brazilians will hit top form.

“We will improve because we are a good team with very good players and we have a very honest group of players and that is one of the things that make you happy as a coach because it is great to work with this group … they give their best every time,” he said.

“When we fail to score and fail to get the result, it is not because we are not trying, everybody can see that our players are trying …. very hard,” Mokwena added.