Cape Town - Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Pitso Mosimane has acknowledged his side cannot afford to lose any more games if they are to defend their Absa Premiership title.

The Brazilians moved into second place on the standings on Wednesday night after a 2-1 win over Bloemfontein Celtic, when Hlompho Kekana scored a second-half winner after Ndumiso Mabena's strike cancelled out Sibusiso Vilakazi's opener.

While the win has moved Mosimane's side to within four points of table-toppers Kaizer Chiefs, he admitted his side has to keep winning if they are to challenge for the title.

"At Sundowns we play every game to win, it's unfortunate that's why I feel sorry for them, the players because it's too much stress, too much pressure. You have to win all the games. We can't lose any game, if you lose the game in the league, the league is gone. If you lose the game on the weekend in the Nedbank Cup, the cup is gone. If you lose in Al Ahly, the Champions League is gone," Mosimane told SuperSport TV.

"But that's why we're here, we're here for that. Winning is in our DNA, it's in our culture. Our players work hard, Lebo (Lebohang Maboe), who missed the goal to score, he works hard also. So it's very difficult to enter the team, you gotta work hard. People think we play well because we pass the ball nice, no there's a lot of hard work."

Sundowns had to work hard for their victory on the night, and a number of their players went into the referee's book, but Mosimane isn't concerned.

"We had to do what we had to do, if you want to keep going with the league, you don't want to have four players on three yellows, it's not gonna help you. It's not that we're delaying, no we don't delay the game," he added.

"Sundowns never delays the game and Denis [Onyango] was clattered there okay. So we had to do what we had to do, everybody does it. We can get the criticism we know it's gonna come but everybody does it. Did you see Pentjie Zulu do it over the weekend?

"Everybody does it, it doesn't look nice but we had to do what we had to do. Sorry about the ugly play, but we're fighting for the league, it's the survival of the fittest."

- TEAMtalk media