Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach Rulani Mokwena was full of praise for his side’s performance in their victory over rivals Kaizer Chiefs at Loftus Versfeld Stadium this past Sunday.

Goals from Grant Kekana and Peter Shalulile secured Sundowns maximum points in Pretoria following their hard-fought 2-0 victory over Stuart Baxter’s Chiefs side.

The Brazilians have now moved back to the top of the DStv Premiership standings with seven points after three matches, while Chiefs have dropped down to 10th place with four points.

Mokwena credited his side for showing “discipline and character” but reserved special praise for goalkeeper Denis Onyango.

“Not easy. Credit to the entire team, to the technical staff. A very good team performance, even with the subs coming in you could see the intensity and the willingness to assist the team to win the game. Congratulations to Sundowns, strong, powerful performance,” Mokwena told SuperSport TV post-game.

“We worked a bit on different schemes in preparation for the different flexibility because Stuart Baxter is a top coach. He’s watched us. He’s prepared very well. We worked hard and the result goes to show.

“Big performance from the players. Big, big performance. And all the teams all over the world have to show discipline and character and intensity and good fight and that’s what we did today.

“The elephant is out of the room,” he said. “It’s old news. We move. The talking is done on the pitch and I think the players did the talking. Top performance. I just have to single out Denis Onyango.

“Football’s a team game but big, big save when it was 1-0 … allowed us to have the momentum and go for the kill. Thats why he’s one of the best in the world and one of the best on the African continent.”

Mamelodi Sundowns will now want to extend their lead at the top of the table even further when they host TS Galaxy in their next DStv Premiership clash on 19 September, with kick-off scheduled for 5pm.