It was one of our best games – Miguel Cardoso on Gallants victory

The Betway Premiership log leaders went a goal down in the first half after striker Junior Dion broke the deadlock but showed resilience by turning the fixture on its head with three goals.

Marcelo Allende, Lucas Ribeiro and Iqraam Rayners all found the back of the net as The Brazilians clawed their way back to a 3-1 victory.

Cardoso feels this was a strong display.

"Well, I'm pretty satisfied about the game. I think we did [great], one of our great games for sure. First half mostly was very interesting play, very high rhythm and intensity,” Cardoso said.

“We knew that we wanted to start strong, we started very strong with a very high tempo in the box circulation to make offensive actions. We played very aggressively and with quality, very high quality, it was a very good first half.

“Obviously, we have to cope with defensive actions mostly that came from quick attacks that Marumo gave us, [which is] normal, they have big players, intensity in the front.

“We gave them space to attack us but we also managed them properly from one mistake we suffered one goal, it was indeed a player that was free inside the box that should have been marked but he was free so because of that he was able to score."

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The Portuguese mentor shed some light on his team talk at the break when Sundowns were still trailing at the Dr Petrus Molemela Stadium.

"At half-time I asked the boys, 'Are we playing good or are we playing bad?', they said 'No, we are playing good'. So, if you have these emotions and you have this feeling that you are playing good, just please continue playing the way that you are playing. Don't lose yourself in the emotions that can come from a result that is not fair in the moment,” the coach added.

“So, I think they started very strong, I also told them we just need to score one goal because if we score one, we win the match and it happened, we scored one. “Anyway, after the first goal, the team lost a little bit, the capacity to focus on the right behaviors and also because of that we had one or two situations that were not very easy to cope with in terms of defence.

“But then we insisted, we insisted and I think the outcome of the game is more than fair, we made a wonderful game today."