Downs aim to end season on good note

Rulani Mokwena (right) admitted that Sundowns may have been affected by having already wrapped up the DStv Premiership title, as they went down 3-0 to Stellenbosch FC in the DStv Premiership on Saturday.

The Sundowns co-head coach, however, refused to use that as an excuse and went on to praise the Sundowns supporters for cheering their team on to the end of the game at Tuks Stadium.

Sundowns will be handed the Premiership trophy when they take on Royal AM at Chatsworth Stadium on Saturday, and following that, will go for a domestic treble when they face Marumo Gallants in the Nedbank Cup final at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium on 28 May.

“It is very important that we go into our next matches and try our level best to win, so we can end the season on a good note,” said Mokwena, after his side had been humbled by Steve Barker’s Stellenbosch, with Ashley Du Preez scoring twice and Jayden Adams netting a brilliant lob over Ricardo Goss.

“When we won the league we said our last three or four games would be very difficult. Football without emotions is not football. When you have won the league, there is no intrinsic motivation to run or try any more. But the players (against Stellenbosch) even with the temptation of giving up … really tried. We lost the game because we made a lot of mistakes, and the score was not a true reflection of our performance.

“We dominated and had 19 shots, they had three shots on target and got three goals. We conceded a soft goal at the beginning, then they got their second and we needed to increase our intensity, but it is what it is.

“Everything else sounds like excuses, so it is better to say congratulations to Stellenbosch and to Steve Barker.”

Mokwena went on to sing the praises of the Sundowns fans that turned up to watch their side’s last home game of the season.

“Supporters generally don’t sing when you are one or two goals down, but today they were magnificent in galvanising us and pushing us. Maybe that was why even with the temptation of not running and trying, still in the 90th minute, we were still in their box, trying because of the supporters,” he added.