Pitso satisfied with 3 points

Johannesburg - Head coach Pitso Mosimane remained diplomatic on Saturday night, despite showing some frustration after his Mamelodi Sundowns outfit secured a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Ajax Cape Town in Atteridgeville.

Sundowns stretched their unbeaten run to 13 straight league matches, climbing to second place in the Premiership standings.

They remained 15 points behind runaway leaders Kaizer Chiefs, and while third-placed Wits were set to face University of Pretoria on Sunday with a chance of closing the gap on Downs, the Brazilians held a game in hand over Amakhosi and the Students heading into the mid-season break.

Mosimane seemed frustrated by the match, but insisted on "staying positive", claiming he did not want to be fined by the Premier Soccer League for speaking out.

"We nipped it at the end, which shows character," he said.

"Obviously we could have done much better in terms of converting the chances.

"My team plays forward and we make opportunities to score, but I'm just happy with the result."

The hosts dominated the first half, taking the lead in the 25th minute when captain Alje Schut connected with a curling free kick from Teko Modise and hit the back of the net with a well-placed header.

The visitors, however, made an impact up front after the interval and were almost immediately rewarded when Tashreeq Morris pounced on a loose ball from a corner and buried the equaliser.

With six minutes left, Kuda Mahachi delivered a fine cross and Modise climbed high at the far post to bang in a header and bag the win.

Ajax lost ground on the teams who were locked in a desperate attempt to close the gap on Chiefs, stretching their winless streak to six straight league matches as they settled into a tight mid-table battle.

"I thought we did well under the circumstances. We fought well," said Ajax coach Roger de Sa.

"We gave a soft goal away through lack of marking, which was very immature and naive, but after that I thought we showed good character against a quality team.

"We took the game to them, and if a couple of decisions had gone our way we probably would have had more out of the game."