Ronwen Williams was tested early in the game by the hosts, with a throw-in that was received in the area with a header. Luckily, Williams was able to punch the headed effort away.
Shortly after, Kutlwano Letlhaku made a defence-splitting pass to Siyabonga Mabena, after a great combination between the two and Gomolemo Kekana. Mabena Pass was, however, a bit strong for Mabena to connect with the ball.
Magesi continued to rattle the Downs’ defence with their long balls in the narrow pitch, and the biggest chance of the half came from the host, whose effort hit the woodwork to deny them an opener.
The hosts continued to give Masandawana problems with the counterattacks and their setpieces, but in the end, both sides headed to the interval deadlocked at 0-0.
Bafana Ba Style looked more assertive in the second stanza and were taking more chances inside the box. Thapelo Maseko – who was introduced in the second half – posed a lot of threat for the Magesi rearguard on the right flank. His biggest effort came when Letlhaku handed him the ball, and he made a good run into the area. The goalkeeper, however, snatched the ball off Maseko’s feet to deny him an opener.
In the 75th minute, Seshego Stadium finally witnessed a goal, and it came from a corner kick. After a scramble in the box, Jayden Adams managed to hit the tongue of the net to break the deadlock.
Twelve minutes later, outside the box with his weaker foot, Peter Shalulile doubled the advantage for Downs. The visitors were not satisfied with the two goals and were posing more threat in the danger zone. Lebo Mothiba also came close to adding his name to the scoresheet, but his effort went a few inches wide. The two goals were enough to see the Brazilians walk away with their first three points of the season.
How we lined up: Williams ©, Basadien, Aubaas, Lebusa, Lunga, Mkhulise, G. Kekana, Adams, Letlhaku, Shalulile, Mabena.
Subs: Onyango, Modiba, Cupido, Mokoena, Allende, Morena, Maseko, Matthews, Mothiba.
Didn’t watch the game and i’m happy with the win and more pleased with the integration of young players for they are the future of the team and also happy to read Maseko had positive impact.I have learned and noticed that teams play with high intensity and more aggression when playing against us.We are also blessed with skillful and speedy players and we must utilize that to our advantage.The coach must just give players constructive freedom of expression and not restrict them and he will see the best of Downs.Good luck on Saturday.
Guy our team is been managed like a spaza shop,whoever is dealing with the transfer of players must be fired immediately,we can’t have our name been dragged in the mud we are a professional team and we should behave like wise.We really treat our players like prisoners.It is other teams’ faults that we have incompetent people running the affairs of the team who can’t negotiate properly and pay abnormal fees to sign players.We just can’t treat Costa like that after he did good things to us,i’m not saying we must just release players for any fee but we must be reasonable and think about what is best for our players.We are scaring players to join us,no sane agent would recommend his client to join such a team.This is really disgusting.We should be shameful on how we treat our players.I think Mr Motsepe must intervene and also get rid of the dead woods in the team. This is unprofessional and pathetic.