'I will not let my players rest' – Miguel Cardoso on Orlando Pirates' Betway Premiership bid

Photo Credit - Mamelodi Sundowns.

Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso has insisted that the race for the Betway Premiership title will go down to the wire, despite Orlando Pirates suffering a devastating 1-0 defeat against Sekhukhune United on Wednesday.

While Pirates lost, the Brazilians inched closer to an eighth consecutive South African top-flight title with a convincing 3-0 victory against Richards Bay at Loftus also on Wednesday.

Arthus Sales put dominant Sundowns ahead with a superb effort inside eight minutes, before Iqraam Rayners added a second from a powerful 28th-minute header. Marcelo Allende put the game to bed with three second-half minutes played.

Speaking on Pirates’ defeat, Cardoso said, as quoted by idiskitimes: “I’m really surprised. You can understand from my voice because I didn’t know. Obviously, it will depend on us. There are still five games to play and things are not done. For sure, our opponents will not give up and we need to keep gaining points.

“Obviously, when we can extend the advantage, it gives us more comfort. But it doesn’t take anything away from what we should do. We have five tough matches to play.

“The next one is away in Cape Town. Cape Town City is a team that is fighting and has its own objectives. We should respect ourselves, we should respect the opponent, respect the opposition – not sleep on what we've done. When you sleep on what you did, then you have problems.

“We played one more game today, five more games to go. If we get an extra advantage, fantastic, but it's something we should manage.

“I will not let my players rest. They need to push themselves. This championship is tough, there is still a long way to go."

“We know it will be tough, but we are motivated, we are happy. We are aware of the responsibility we carry, and the level of our opponents and we respect them. To respect them we need to do our job, be strong, keep training, keep working and until the end.”

The win enabled Sundowns to stretch their lead at the top of the standings to 12 points, though they have played two extra games over the Buccaneers.