Mokwena pleased with Sundowns' win over Gallants despite second half struggles

Reigning DStv Premiership champions Mamelodi Sundowns have moved back to the top of the pile following a hard fought 1-0 victory against Marumo Gallants on Wednesday evening at Loftus Versfeld.  

Sundowns started the brighter of the two sides with a couple of chances in the opening 20 minutes, but they could not find the breakthrough.

However, their efforts were soon rewarded when the ball found Sphelele Mkhulise who guided the ball into the far corner to give his side the lead in the 28th minute.  

Gallants thought they had found the equaliser in the 88th minute, but it was ruled out for offside and in the process spared the blushes of Sundowns co-coach Rhulani Mokwena and his men.  

Mokwena praised his side's first half performance, especially their movement which he believes Gallants struggled to cope with.  

"We played very well in the first half; we were very good in my opinion," Mokwena told reporters. 

"We showed good fluidity, movements and organisational forms. Our defence was good against a very technical midfield." 

Mokwena went on to praise the intensity shown from his charges and believes it caused Gallants many problems during the game.  

"You could see, normally they start with 'Sibu' (Sibusiso Khumalo), but they had Lucky Mohomi starting as a 'six'. You could see they wanted to be more on the ball and they caused us a lot of problems when they were on the ball. But our high press was good with Gaston (Sirino) and (Marcelo) Allende. 

"We won a lot of balls close to the box and we should have been more aggressive and ruthless with better decision making around the box." 

Despite the victory, Mokwena was not pleased with the second half, but he believes it should cause no panic. 

"The second half was not so good, it