Mamelodi Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena praised his side’s defensive work rate against Orlando Pirat after they kept a clean sheet at the Orlando Stadium on Saturday.

The Brazilians clinched their 15th straight victory in the DStv Premiership following their narrow 1-0 victory over the Buccaneers in Soweto.

An early goal by Cassius Mailula was enough to see Sundowns stretch their lead at the top of the table to 23 points over second placed SuperSport United.

Meanwhile, Pirates now find themselves sitting in fourth place in the league standings with 28 points from 19 matches.

“[It was] A very difficult game, two good sides, very dominant from Pirates I thought. But I also thought we had better chances also. We played the game the way a big game is supposed to be played,” Mokwena told his club’s official website.

“I was pleasantly surprised by how well we defended, normally we have to have the ball to defend but today we defended very, very well, there were no big chances in open play and we showed that we can play difficult games and respond to the situation.

“I have nothing but incredible respect and appreciation for this group of players. If I were to rate it out of 10, not the performance as a whole, I would give it a 15/10.”

“We played a very good side, this could’ve easily been a Champions League away match.

“When we struggled in the past to keep clean sheet against very good sides, today we didn’t give away too many chances to Pirates except on set pieces and for sure they had some very good situations on set pieces and they played for that and I thought we had the better chances even though they had the better share of the ball and they were very dominant in possession, but I thought we defended very, very well today.”

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