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Cape Town - Free State Stars caretaker coach Kinnah Phiri praised his side's gritty performance following a 2-0 defeat to Mamelodi Sundowns on Saturday.
Goals from Cuthbert Malajila and Khama Billiat on either side of the break ensured that Sundowns left the Lucas Moripe Stadium with all three points and moved up to send place in the Premiership standings.
It was a disappointing end to the week for Phiri's men, especially after a morale-boosting 1-0 victory over Bloemfontein Celtic on Wednesday evening.
The Ea Lla Koto mentor felt his charges were made to pay for their errors, but was keen to point out that their performance was otherwise good.
"It was not very tough, the goals they scored were from mistakes from our players," Phiri said.
"Otherwise, I think my boys put up a good fight, it was not easy for Sundowns to score those goals.
“We matched them pound-to-pound, we played a better game, we passed the ball around properly, but in football if you make mistakes you get punished.
"We just have to look forward to the remaining games, I'm sure with this performance, we will still pick up points the way we are going now and I just want to say congratulations to the boys, this is the fighting spirit that we need to go with in the league and I'm sure we will pick up the points we need."
