It Was a Close Game as Anything Could Have Happened

Mamelodi Sundowns secured their third win against Orlando Pirates in 2021, completing the league double in the DStv Premiership and claiming a win in the Nedbank Cup. It took three fine second half goals from Masandawana to wrap up the contest at Esigodini on Sunday afternoon, with strikes from Ricardo Nascimento, Peter Shalulile and Lyle Lakay. The win took The Brazilians back to the top spot, relinquishing it after twenty-four hours in second place after AmaZulu’s win on Saturday.

Coach Manqoba Mngqithi spoke about what transpired in the clash against The Buccaneers and said that “The game came out the way we expected, but it happened surprisingly as we did not anticipate the three centre backs, with five across and two wing backs. But when we figured that out we managed to manoeuvre our structure a little bit. I must say that the game was very tight in the first half, we did tell the players that they must just keep moving the ball, pass as much as they can as you know it can affect the legs as we have been travelling a lot.”

It took only ten minutes after the break for Bafana Ba style to grab the opener as Nascimento scored from the spot to bang in his first goal in the DStv Premiership this season.

“In the second half we started off a little bit shaky but once we recollected ourselves and started using our half spaces better with Lebo [Maboe] and Pitso [Mkhulise] with Mshishi [Zwane] playing more as a ten. We started getting routes into their half and I must say Gift played a significant role in making sure we have depth and pinning the centre back at the right time. It was not a game that you could suggest we could win three-nil, it was a close game as anything could have happened”, said Coach Manqoba Mngqithi.

The next encounter is against Maritzburg United on Wednesday, the Team of Choice is currently in position twelve in the standings and will; becoming to Loftus Versfeld and give tough competition on the day.