Hlompho Kekana, Tebogo Langerman, Denis Onyango and Thapelo Morena joined Themba Zwane on the sidelines as coach Pitso Mosimane shuffled his team for some mid-week action.
Both teams looked to set a high, fast-paced tempo early on with neither side able to find that finishing touch in the final third.
Lebo Maboe with a glorious chance on the twenty minute mark fired his effort into the stands as Vilakazi and Bongi Ntuli kept the Brazilian backline in check at the other end.
With the first half coming to a close, up stepped Jose Ali Meza, who turned home a lovely pass from Sibusiso Vilakazi.
Usuthu coach Jozef Vukusic rang the changes with Boshoff coming on and denying Jose Ali & Sibusiso Vilakazi within the first few minutes of the half.
Jose Ali pulled up and needed to be replaced with the Venezuelan unable to continue, Aubrey Ngoma, made his first league appearance of the season.
The Brazilians held on, in the end, to claim all three points and close the gap at the top of the ABSA Premiership.
Full time:
Mamelodi Sundowns (40+3’ Meza) 1 : 0 AmaZulu
Teams:
Sundowns: Mweene, Ngcongca, Madisha, Lebusa, Jali, Coetzee, Lakay, Vilakazi, Maboe, Mkhulise, Meza.
Subs: Pieterse, Ngoma, Lukubeni, Makgalwa, Arendse, Affonso, Mabunda.
AmaZulu: Mbatha, Morton, P.Gumede, Masilela, Booysen, Maduna, Darpoh, Sithebe, Khumalo, Vilakazi, Ntuli.
Subs: Boshoff, Madela, M.Gumede, Ncube, Karuru, Ngubane, Majoro.
I’m quite happy about the win and very much impressed with Mkhulise and Makgalwa they have bright future with Sundowns with age on their site when coming to Maboe has poor final decision making and Vilikazi he is finished. KBY for Life ?
Ogh I am so glad Makgalwa is back.
Congratulations to the team, that is a resounding bounce back, it was a tough match.Less mistakes from our side, it was fair game for us dominating , but the last final touch is still not coming alright, We hope to build it from there and players must take their chances . Sundowns must always aim to kill the game first half because they can hardly cope with the pressure of the last minutes , so things must always be done when they still have all the energy.KBY
We were very much poor yesterday. I now understand why the coach opts for the tried and tested. Players like Bra Hlompho have a lof of football brains even though they’ve slowed down quite tremendously. There’s no football brains in our current crop of players, but I really commend the coach for giving them a chance to play. He’s the one who signed the after all. I just hope that he’s not trying to get them to play like Percy and Khama. Maboe still needs a lot of coaching, and highly predict that Makgalwa will surpass him
the guys played very well without doubt and Mkhulise he is our future star the boy is talented
Lukhubeni should have played yesterday, that boy is so good, Pitso must give young players a chance.We can all see what is happening with Vilakazi
I’m one of those who always come very hard on the coach now , I want to comment the coach on a job well done yesterday, the changes he made helped us a lot. We played with a lot of hunger and passion, I loved what I saw in Meza and Maboe ,Mkhulise is something special,with more game time his confidence will rise and he will excel even more.Loved to see Keletso back, can’t wait to see the combination of Mkhulise,Makgalwa and Mahlambi we will be unstoppable.Thank you gyus for giving us this win we really needed it badly.
Missing Laffor
Thank you Masandawana for the win, I think Makgalwa and Mkhulise should be fielded together with Zwane, Sirino and Morena at the same time.