Mamelodi Sundowns registered a flawless 3-0 victory against TS Galaxy, who they were meeting for the first time in the DStv Premiership, on Monday evening at Loftus Versfeld.
It was evident from the time the match kicked off, that The Rockets had a special plan, which was to deny the hosts a chance to make things happen. There was less space to operate in as the visitors closed them in but when the hosts were faced head on with an opportunity to break the deadlock, they grabbed it with both hands.
Masandawana’s passing was somewhat precise as they found spaces in the area and on the 26th minute, the breakthrough finally came through Peter Shalulile who got the end of captain, Themba Zwane’s cross to hit the tongue of the net and open the scoring.
Just after the half an hour mark, Shalulile found a second goal to extend his side’s lead. It was the combination of Zwane and Tashreeq Matthews’s backheel passes that landed the ball in front of Shalulile who then put it past the keeper.
The visiting team came out more enthusiastic after the halftime break as they looked for a goal that would fire them up for a comeback but Masandawana eluded the pressure in the early minutes of the second stanza and were soon back to creating opportunities.
For fresh legs, coach Rulani introduced Neo Maema and Thembinkosi Lorch, who made an immediate impact shortly after their introduction. Maema drove the ball on the left flank to deliver it Zwane who was unselfish with the ball as he passed it to Lorch, giving him his first league goal this season in the yellow and blue.
You would think that Bafana Ba Style would be satisfied with the three goals but they continued looking for more goals and putting pressure on their counterparts, displaying quick and classic football.
Marching orders were given to TS Galaxy’s Mongae on the 85th minute after a tackle on substitute, Bongani Zungu, leaving their counterparts in vulnerable with only ten men in the pitch.
A penalty kick was awarded to The Rockets after Thapelo Morena made a foul in the area. Bernard Parker took the penalty, shooting it to the left but Downs shot stopper, Ronwen Williams flew to the left to block the ball, keeping a clean sheet.
The were no chances at the other end in the time that was left but Downs comfortably saw out the remainder of the match without a fuss after what was a masterly performance.
How we lined up: Williams, Mdunyelwa, Mashego, Kekana, Lebusa, Aubaas, Mkhulise, Zwane, Esquivel, Matthews, Shalulile.
Subs: February, Mvala, Zungu, Mudau, Modiba, Maema, Nku, Lorch, Morena.
Very good win,and i was impressed by by the commitment shown by players.Mattews is a special talent,the boy is got football brains.He is good both aerially and on the ground.I salute Zwane and Shalulile .Lastly let us play safe and efficient football,we conceded an unnecessary penalty when Morena could have easily cleared the ball.Thank you for the win.I can avoid a defeat in a remaining games and win the Nedbank cup,the pain of crashing out of champions league.
Well done to the boyz and the technical team. We’re now creating a lot of scoring opportunities and playing to the strength of our strikers, especially Peter Shalulile. TS Galaxy is one of the teams that adopts the low block quite effectively, but yesterday they didn’t know what hit them. We apply those long balls and score a goal or two, thereafter we can switch back to our normal game of patient build-ups. I was very much disheartened by Bongani Zungu’s injury, and I personally think the TS Galaxy boy deliberately injured him just to avenge for what he did to Bernard Parker. That boy didn’t show any remorse, but just because it’s a Sundowns player nobody is going to say anything. You can see that Bongani really wants to play and impress the technical team, but these injuries are setting him back.
Well-done to the entire team you guys are amazing, I don’t know how you do it with so many games and still be able to grind results, the Esperance game still hurts like a sore thumb but let’s dust ourselves and come back stronger next year, for now let’s focus on punishing this Kaizer Chiefs that always tries to bring us down in all platforms and even supporting our CAF rivals and prove there’s only one boss in the PSL.