With many teams employing conservative‚ counterattacking football when they face Mamelodi Sundowns‚ forward Sibusiso Vilakazi says the Pretoria team try to play like Manchester City‚ who force the opposition to open gaps with relentless attacks.

The case in point was Downs’ narrow 1-0 win over Maritzburg United on Wedenesday where the Team of Choice largely defended deep in their own half for just over an hour until Percy Tau found an opening to score the game’s only goal in the 64th minute.

It was a similar story in Sundowns’ league match before that where Golden Arrows defended for the better part of the game after the Durban team conceded the only goal of the match in the sixth minute from the boot of Soumahoro Bangaly.

“If the team you are playing against is sitting back‚ you have to keep on poking and poking and somehow they will lose the momentum of defending‚” Vilakazi said.

“If you look at Manchester City in England‚ they keep on poking and poking until they find the gap and when they find the gap they capitilise. Sometimes it does not work‚ but you can settle for a point that would be helpful later in the race.

“Fortunately‚ against Maritzburg we managed to get maximum points and stay at the top of the log.”

Sundowns return to league action against Bloemfontein Celtic on Saturday at Loftus Versfeld looking for their fourth successive win and Vilakazi expects an open game from improving Siwelele under coach Veselin Jelušić.

“They are a tough side to play against‚ whether you are at home or away from home. They are playing good football and we have to be at our best to be able to deal with them and continue our winning run.” the attacking midfielder said.

“We have not been conceding lots of goals but we are also not scoring enough. We are playing for the title‚ which is a long road and we will keep on pushing and take it game by game.”

Vilakazi is yet to score a league goal this season playing further up the field as a false number nine but he is not too concerned by drought.

“I am enjoying the role even though I have not been getting the goals but I will keep on pushing‚” he said.

“I am happy with my general contribution to the team and maybe I will score a crucial goal on the last match of the season – who knows.

“It does not worry me too much that the goals have not been forthcoming because it is about the team and not an individual.”