Mamelodi Sundowns snatched a point on Saturday evening at the Buffalo City Stadium following a 1-1 draw against Chippa United. It was Antonio van Wyk who levelled matters for Downs in the final minute of the match.
While Sundowns dominated possession the early minutes of the match, the hosts were not making thing easy for them, as they too, created chances through mostly their counterattack efforts.
On the 10th minute, Tashreeq Matthews could have broke the deadlock through a headed effort which went over the bar. He had received the ball from a cross which was set up by Siyanda Ndlovu on the right.
On the 22nd minute, Ndlovu was denied a scoring opportunity inside the box through a slide tackle. Five minutes later, the Chilli Boys rattled the Downs defence with a great passage of play. They couldn’t get it right after a high ball soared across the field.
A slip of the boot for Ronwen Williams on the edge of the box almost cost him but he made a quick recovery to get to the ball before the hosts did.
In the closing minutes of the first half, Teboho Mokoena’s presence in the box has denied two scoring chances coming from the hosts. Despite an action-packed first stanza, the two sides went to the interval with no goals.
The hosts created the first big chance of the second half on the 50th minute when Thapelo Morena couldn’t stop the ball inside the box. Fortunately, Grant Kekana was able to block the ball to deny the hosts an opener.
Just inside the hour mark, substitute, Cassius Mailula was left unmarked on the edge of the box but slipped before firing his shot which was met by the keeper’s hands.
An interception from the Chippa defence saw the hosts driving the ball into the other half of the field. The effort to score from the left flank, however, crossed the face of goal.
Kekana, who was close to the keeper, had an opportunity to break the deadlock for Downs from a long ball that came from Aubrey Modiba. The effort to slot it in, however, blocked by the goalkeeper.
On the 78th minute, the first goal was witnessed at the Buffalo City Stadium and it came from the Chilli Boys. Unable to block the ball, the Downs defence was taken advantage of as the hosts found the farpost to open the scoring.
On the 84th minute, Masandawana almost levelled matters with a Mailula effort which was close to crossing the goal line but was snatched by the keeper.
With only a minute to full-time, Bafana Ba Style found the back of the net through substitute, Antonio van Wyk. A shot from Morena landed inside the box and was lightly smacked by the keeper but van Wyk found the rebound and slotted it in to level matters. While they didn’t get all points on offer, Masandawana walk away with a point and continue with their unbeaten streak.
How we lined up: Williams ©, Morena, Ndamane, Kekana, Basadien, Mokoena, Allende, Letlhaku, Matthews, Leon, Ndlovu.
Subs: Goss, Khoza, Modiba, Mkhulise, Zwane, Santos, van Wyk, Mailula, Rayners.
Cardoso kodwa when someone compliments you u just become a bad spoiler,I mean Khoza had a man of the match performance bt is relegated to the bench.Then Mvala is left at home then Grant Kekana gave us this questionable performance.Bt under those circumstances we salvaged a point &is very important going forward,bt sometimes a draw gives a false hope not to attack with a great vigor&u end up being complacent.
Mfana that was my surprise also,a man of the match performer on the bench and Mvala with very good performance in the stands.I don’t think the technical team analyses our games,i’m not saying this because we drew but based on facts.If you can check,Khoza was able to push forward with the ball and also managed to run with Sewelele attackers and made some good tackles.Mvala was able to make deep penetrative passes from the back yet the coach sacrificed those players for a person who cannot run,move forward with the ball and only knows how to make back passes to the keeper.Good performance must be rewarded than discouraged. Wherever you see Williams and Kekana at the back you must brace yourselves for a tortoise movement of the ball at the back and that very slow movement of the ball waste time and also allows opponents to regroup at the back and those old men at the back are not aware . Cardorso’s sickness is over reliance on old players who gives nothing to the team, he can’t build a formidable team. You can’t complain about the conditions of the pitch as if the opponents were playing on a good surface,instead we should have adjusted our play to suits that conditions,we nearly concede stupid goal because of ball backs to the keeper even when the pitch is slippery.Some players only use their feet to play football they don’t use their brains.
Editor there’s a crucial game over the weekend but there’s no hype about the game.So we have to rely on other outlets or platforms about our team.U forget that it wasn’t mentioned anywhere by this website,kahle kahle who r u working for?No ticket prices or updates about tickets,in all u r just weapons formed against Sundowns…