Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Rulani Mokwena says the club has no divine right to win every football match after their 15-game winning streak came to an end.
Mokwena has yet to taste defeat in the DStv Premiership and it was his first draw since becoming the sole head coach of the club.
A much-changed Sundowns line-up where two academy products Thando Nkosi and Siyanda Nyanga received debuts, drew 1-1 at Danie Craven against an inspired Stellenbosch outfit in rainy weather conditions.
Their rising star Cassius Mailula came off from the bench to open the scoring for his eighth league goal of the season but Sipho Mbule conceded a penalty late on which was slotted home by Iqraam Rayners.
“I don’t know how to answer, in a good way it’s good for the supporters, it’s good for the club and in another way, we don’t look at that because that doesn’t give you results, and then it becomes a difficult one,” Mokwena said when asked if the record weighed on them.
“The football club wants results and continues to win but for sure, the reality is when you work every day and everybody starts to say, especially to the players, the weight of the expectation is that you have to win every single match and that’s not possible in football.
“Football you lose more than you win, that is reality, and in a moment where we… I honestly thought the best thing to happen to us today was to concede the goal because I didn’t like the personality I saw when we were leading 1-0.
“Sometimes life happens to you – where you have to learn the lessons and sometimes you learn more in difficulties, challenges than we recognise when we’re winning and with a lot of humility and appreciation for our opposition and how difficult it is to win football matches in this league.”
Mokwena went on to state they are always looking for three points in each and every game they prepare for, but put his hands up to state that Stellies were well worth getting something out of the game.
“We have to accept we won’t win every single match and [Stellenbosch] was a good demonstration of that and how difficult it is, not just as a lesson for the players and the coaches but also for the club and supporters that you can’t win everything.
“That doesn’t mean we don’t try, we try to win every match, and we try to invest so much into preparing to win every single match and when we don’t.
“We have to congratulate the opposition, congratulations to Steve Barker and his side, they pushed us, away from home, a very difficult pitch, conditions with the rain and it’s not easy to win here. We take the point and march on with graciousness and humility.”
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Sundowns will now turn their attention to face Al Ahly in the CAF Champions League at Loftus Versveld on Saturday (15h30).
