Maritzburg United are likely to feel that they put up a brave fight before they became the latest victims of the Mamelodi Sundowns juggernaut in a 1-0 scoreline in Pretoria on Wednesday.
The Midlands outfit worked extremely hard to contain the defending champions and current log leaders from the start of the DStv Premiership fixture, but a moment of magic from Peter Shalulile after the interval decided the David-versus-Goliath encounter.
The deadly Namibian striker took his tally of league goals to six as all-conquering Sundowns created a record of 11 clean sheets going back to last season, but that was only after the slippery Shalulile got the benefit of the doubt in an offside poser at Loftus Versfeld Stadium.
“I say this all the time, the game belongs to the players,” Mokwena said post-match.
“They are the ones that play, they are the ones that run, they are the ones that work extremely hard in preparing for the match.
“They are the ones that sit for hours doing corrections, they are the ones that sit for hours analysing the opposition.
“They take their careers very seriously so, everything you see is a result of the profile and hard work of these amazing football players.”
Mokwena added that perhaps the Sundowns players’ record-breaking achievements were not being fully appreciated.
“I don’t think even as a country or football nation we give them the praise and the credit that they deserve you know,” Mokwena added.
“They are disciplined, they are committed and they are extremely, extremely focused on their football careers.
“You could see it with today’s match, it’s very easy to just turn up and go through the motions after winning a cup final, but they show up and they perform.
“They deserve all the credit, they are top, top, top professionals and we are just fortunate to as a football club to have such magnificent human beings serving the badge and giving their all on the pitch.”
Sundowns next face bottom side Marumo Gallants at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in the DStv Premiership on Sunday.