Polokwane win puts Sundowns in driving seat – Miguel Cardoso

The Brazilians edged Rise and Shine 1-0 on Wednesday night, courtesy of another decisive strike from midfielder Marcelo Allende – moving them to the top of the standings with a two-point gap over rivals Orlando Pirates.

Cardoso admitted the stakes were high and anything less than victory would have been unacceptable given the stage of the season.

"Now, obviously, it was very important to win the match today so that we can look forward and still depend on ourselves. It was a very tough and beautiful championship, of course," said Cardoso.

READ: TS Galaxy players own up as Adnan Beganovic pays price for winless run

"We need to focus on the next match. It will surely be a difficult match against the same opponent. The conditions are not the same because, as you might understand, I think it's been three years since Polokwane played a home match in this stadium, so that was a sure reason for us to come here."

"It is clear the pitch is 12 meters smaller in length and 6 in width, so it's obviously more difficult to penetrate, but we felt very pleased to come here and try to challenge at that level."

Sundowns face the same side again on Sunday afternoon at Loftus Versfeld and Cardoso will take the advice of the medical team regarding rotation.  

The Portuguese mentor added that there was some advantage to playing the same team twice in four days.

On the goal difference between Sundowns and Pirates in the title run-in, Cardoso suggested that was less of a focus for his players.