Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso says they will rise and come back even stronger following their defeat to TS Galaxy.

The Brazilians suffered their first defeat in 10 matches in the Betway Premiership following their 1-0 defeat at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit.

The defeat sees Sundowns remain at the top of the log with 42 points from 16 matches, having won 14 and only conceding two defeats.

The Tshwane giants will look to bounce back and return to winning ways when they face Mpheni Home Defenders in the Nedbank Cup at the Lucas Moripe Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

“Sorry, I didn’t see (Galaxy dominant), we were dominant all game, TS Galaxy defended all game, obviously we didn’t have the energy that we needed, it’s our fourth match in 72 hours,” Cardoso told SuperSport TV after the game.

“And we were penalised because of that. We had better chances, we should have scored but we were penalised with the goal in the last minutes of the first half and we had no energy for the second one.”

He added, “You need to ask their coach but its normal that the team that is defending wants to keep the threat in the front so that we don’t go full energy in attack.

“I think we coped with their offence, we knew we had to risk, we took chances, we put pressure, we thought it could help, we changed the strategy in terms of system but they defended very well. We have to congratulate them also for the effort they did defensively.

“The lesson is continue to look forward and continue to work, I’ve always said it will be a long championship, not once have you heard me say something different than that.

“So my position today is exactly the same, we will rise from today and for sure we will come (back) even stronger,” Cardoso concluded.