Motjeka Madisha’s lone strike on the stroke of half-time proved the difference at the James Motlatsi Stadium as the Brazilians closed the gap at the top of the Absa Premiership standings to just four points.
And, speaking to SuperSport after the game, which saw Stars goalkeeper Thela Ngobeni pull off several sublime saves, a pragmatic Mosimane said: “At this point in time, it’s a game [that would be decided by one goal], not a game of five goals or six.
“We’ve got to take what’s on the table, and what was on the table today was one goal and three points.
“We tried to score, especially with set pieces, but Thela (Ngobeni) didn’t want us to score, the goal-post didn’t want us to score…
“We were a little bit tired, you could see. [There were] a lot of heavy legs, [we’ve played] a lot of games. You could see in the last 20, 30 minutes we were not there so we just soaked up the pressure and dragged the game until it finished.”
Mosimane went on to admit their win came at some cost, with a number of players grappling with several knocks, injuries and strains after an intense battle.
The coach continued: “Khama [Billiat] has tight hamstrings, Thapelo [Morena] has tight hamstrings, Percy [Tau] has two tight hamstrings [but] it’s our [Sundowns’] life and we just have to manage.
“I must tell you, we are feeling it [the heavy fixture schedule] but we are mentally strong and we want to win the game so if you are mentally strong and you want to win the game, that is important.”