Mamelodi Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena is confident his side will “improve” and get “better” after dropping points against Stellenbosch FC this past weekend.

The Brazilians were forced to share the spoils with Stellies after they played out to a 1-1 draw at the Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch when Iqraam Rayners cancelled out Cassius Mailula’s opening goal.

Despite dropping points, Sundowns currently sit at the summit of the DStv Premiership standings with 59 points, 17 points clear of second placed SuperSport United after 22 matches played so far this season.

Meanwhile, Stellies are in 10th position on the table – level on 27 points with ninth placed TS Galaxy and Sekhukhune United in 11th place on the log.

“We can’t win them all, we try to win them all but we can’t win them all. After we scored I don’t think I recognised the team, the appetite to get the second and third (goal) was not there,” Mokwena told SuperSport TV.

“But congratulations to Stellenbosch for putting up a good fight, congratulations to my players for almost a very good performance, congratulations to the youngsters, Siya (Nyanga) made his debut, Ntando (Nkosi), so there’s some positives.

“And we’ll improve, we always want to improve and get better.

Yeah, because it’s a lesson. We win so much that we’ve got to get a few uppercuts to learn lessons, that’s important, it’s very important for the way we want to go, what we want to try to achieve.

“So the lessons must come and sometimes the lessons are a little bit bitter to swallow but we have to get them, it’s how life is, it’s ups and downs and you try to keep with the ups.

“But when you get the downs you must also get the downs very quickly and take it with the lesson and move, so I’m in that space where I appreciate the lesson that came with the equaliser.”

He added: “No, we want to win, I thought on the balance of play we did just enough to get the three points, just enough. But that’s not enough in football, just enough is not enough in football and we’ve got to learn that lesson,” he said.

“So we got to do more, more than the opposition, we’ve got to create more chances, we’ve got to invest a little bit more when we’re 1-0 up, invest more to make it two, make it three and that’s how we’ll keep on going.

“But we’ve got a good bunch of players, honest and we’ll learn and we’ll get better for sure, no doubt.”

Photo by EPA/KHALED ELFIQI