Neeskens hopeful of Downs revival
After watching his side suffer their fifth loss of the season, Mamelodi Sundowns coach Johan Neeskens said he was happy with the commitment shown by his side and is confident the team can bounce back from their worst ever start to a league campaign.
"We prepared ourselves well for this game," Neeskens said after the Brazilians went down 1-0 to visiting Platinum Stars at the Lucas Moripe Stadium in Atteridgeville on Saturday night.
"We had the intention of playing well, but also in this situation, one can see that a lot of players maybe don't have that same confidence as they had before.
"The spirit was there, the players tried, they gave everything.
"We need to try to score goals and to avoid making mistakes."
Neeskens' side dropped into 15th in the Premiership standings with four points from seven ties, equal on points with bottom-of-the-log Amazulu, who went down by the same scoreline to Ajax Cape Town at the Moses Mabhida Stadium.
"There were a few moments where we had moments of possibilities but unfortunately we didn't score and that is the problem that we have to work on and believe in it," Neeskens said.
"In the second half we gave it our all, we were also a little bit unlucky."
Stars' victory at the hands of struggling Sundowns meant the Brazilians are now winless in six consecutive league outings, winning a single fixture against Chippa United on the opening weekend of the new season.
"Our job (as coaches) is to keep talking to the players and if it was that easy to just click your fingers and things are done, it would be better," the Dutchman added.
"We keep working on that, but unfortunately we went a goal behind 15 minutes into the game.
"I'm confident that we can come out of here altogether and still believe in each other, working 100 percent hard for each other and we keep on going."
The win for Stars helped the Rustenburg-based side to their third victory of the season, inching their way up the table into ninth with 10 points, a further seven points off the pace of log-leaders Kaizer Chiefs.
Chiefs were held to a goalless draw by Bloemfontein Celtic at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth, extending their unbeaten run to seven games, while ensuring they remain at the table's summit as the Premiership takes a three-week break and resumes on October 26.
Earlier, Moroka Swallows moved up into third place, as Katlego Mashego scored the only goal of the encounter, beating high-flying Free State Stars 1-0 in Bethlehem, handing coach Steve Komphela his first loss of the season.
The Free State outfit drop down to sixth, while Wits leapfrogged Stars into fifth as they beat Golden Arrows 1-0 in Johannesburg.
