Miguel Cardoso raves about Mamelodi Sundowns' 12-point gap over Orlando Pirates after win over Marumo Gallants and explains why Denis Onyango started ahead of Ronwen Williams - 'Nail could be big but hammer is stronger'

Mamelodi Sundowns came from a goal down to beat Marumo Gallants 3-1 in a Premier Soccer League outing played on Wednesday night.

The win took Masandawana's points tally to 45, 12 more than second-placed Orlando Pirates who have three games at hand.

Sundowns went to the break trailing by a solitary goal and coach Miguel Cardoso has now opened up on what he told the players.

“What I said to the boys at halftime was very simple and very clear; there’s no, no way to change, nothing. Just keep going and going,” he stated.

“I knew that the game could become emotional, and it was important to deal with that. As much as we could focus on what we wanted for the game the best.

“I think, after we scored the first goal we lost ourselves a little bit exactly eventually, because of that anxiety of trying to make the second goal."

Cardoso has further lauded the players for their discipline even when the team was trailing.

“But I also told them that the nail could be big, but the hammer would be stronger to put it in the wood, and we did it so completely out of question the merit of the victory," he added.

“It was even interesting to see how we finished. But it’s becoming too easy to put our players out of the games repeatedly. And this is a very disciplined team, and it looks like like not, but they are. They are.”

The former Esperance coach is delighted with the healthy gap between them and second-placed Orlando Pirates.

“That’s fantastic, it means that the team has the right spirit, it means the team has the capacity to overcome the difficulty the matches can have but anyway I think we made a wonderful first half,” he continued.

“Maybe not the best we made until now, fantastic very high rhythm from the back, very aggressive from the back. Our lines circulating the ball was so aggressive in order to put more numbers in the front.

“And then we suffered a goal only that obviously was well worked by the opponent in the box, but it was completely against the way the game was going."

Denis Onyango was a surprise starter on Wednesday but he ended up getting two yellow cards. Cardoso has explained the decision to play the Ugandan ahead of first-choice Ronwen Williams and how the red card will affect his team.

“I think the [red card] affects [us] always because you never know what happens in the next game. So, it always affects [us].

“Ronwen [Williams] is our first goalkeeper, and Dennis has been on the [good] level because on [Wednesday], again, I remember he [made] a wonderful save from a header that could have been very dangerous.

“So, he has been on the [good] level. But I believe that Ronwen will have recovered from a small problem that he had today, and he will be able to go on goal.

“Otherwise we have Jody [February], we have Sanele [Tshabalala], we have Reyaad Pieterse. So, for sure, someone will stand up if we need some goalkeeper," he concluded.

The next assignment for Sundowns will be against TS Galaxy on Saturday at the Lucas Masterpieces Moripe Stadium.

Barely two weeks ago, the Rockets beat the Brazilians 1-0 in the league. It is interesting to see how Masandawana will react to that painful defeat.