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Pretoria - Following his team's first victory in five successive outings, Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane says he is relieved to be getting back to winning ways.
"We feel much better. A little bit of relief and the players will feel confident," Mosimane said after the Brazilians defeated Free State Stars 2-1 in the Absa Premiership on Tuesday.
"Today we sealed it. We still missed chances, but not many, and we got two, so we're happy."
Following Saturday's lacklustre defeat at the hands of Bloemfontein Celtic, Nyasha Mushekwi netted in either half to get the Brazilians a positive result, while Stars' Daniel Cardoso pulled one back for the visitors.
The game also marked coach Pitso Mosimane's 15th Premiership game in charge since taking over from Johan Neeskens in December last year.
"In the first half we played well and that's why we scored the goal," Mosimane said.
"I believe, against Bloemfontein Celtic in the first half, we played much better, but what makes the difference are the goals.
"If you score, the whole tone changes. We did well, we fought and the senior players came to the party."
While the Zimbabwean's double strike was enough to see off the challenge from Ea Lla Koto, it did little to lift Mosimane's men in the league standings.
The win moved Sundowns to 32 points from their 27 fixtures, three clear of AmaZulu in 12th but three behind their nearest opponents, Moroka Swallows, in 10th.
Mosimane admitted it was disappointing that despite the win, Sundowns did not move up in the league standings, but believed there was still plenty of room for improvement ahead of the new season.
"There's nothing wrong with Sundowns -- Sundowns is a good team. I'm yet to see a team that I've played against and I should be defending from day one," he said.
"But let's be realistic, let's see where we came from, we were number 16 (when Mosimane took over from Neeskens) and we are still 11th.
"It's sad for people of Sundowns to come and support us and follow us. Today at least they were singing a little bit.
"As long as we take opportunities and we take our chances, we'll do better."
Mosimane said he would continue experimenting with his team in order to find the right combinations, particularly in attack, where he felt the team could still improve.
"We are stable at the back, and we don't lose easily, but we need to go to the other side and score.
"We didn't score against Bloemfontein Celtic and AmaZulu, which is a little bit of a setback but we feel a little bit of relief. We need to push more and we need the experience of the other players to double their efforts."
