Mamelodi Sundowns remain unbeaten in the Betway Premiership this season, following a 2-0 victory against newly promoted side, Milford FC on Wednesday night at Loftus Versfeld.
The match started off a bit sluggish with a dominant Sundowns side not finding space against a tight Milford defence. The visitors also did not sit back and had applied a high press early in the game.
The first effort of the match came just after the 15th minute when Milford fired a strike but Ronwen Williams dived to make a crucial save. End-to-end football was witnessed at Loftus after the 20 minute mark but there wasn’t a threatening effort from either sides.
The biggest save of the first half came on the 40th minute when Williams was met by a one versus one inside the box. His unintentional save became crucial when a powerful chance was blocked by his head.
A few minutes later, Masandawana almost broke the deadlock when Tashreeq Matthews put the ball past the goalkeeper but a defender chasing the ball managed to clear it away just before crossing the goal line.
A minute before the half time whistle was blown, the hosts finally opened the scoring. It was Aubrey Modiba who set up Iqraam Rayners from the left flank. Rayners’ one touch effort to score was blocked by the keeper but he found the rebound and tapped it in to see Downs heading to the break with a lead.
The visitors went back to the second stanza full clutch as they looked to level matters and they almost did but Williams hopped to tap the ball over the bar.
Just after the hour mark, Bafana Ba Style had a big chance to double their advantage through Rayners but the keeper charged towards him and made a sliding tackle to deny him a goal.
Substitute, Cassius Mailula almost made an immediate impact when he fired a shot but it went wide. On the 76th minute, the Brazilians managed to double their advantage through substitute, Antonio van Wyk who squeezed himself between the keeper and a defender to find the back of the net.
Milford tried to find a goal in the closing stages of the match but couldn’t as Downs recorded a clean sheet.
How we lined up: Williams ©, Mdunyelwa, Khoza, Kekana, Modiba, B. Mokoena, Allende, Aubaas, Matthews, van Wyk, Rayners.
Subs: Goss, Mvala, Basadien, Morena, Mokoena, Zwane, Ndlovu, Leon, Mailula.
This is my two cents suggestion,Downs must sign Luke le Roux (26) to replace Jayden that boy is good and he’s a free agent,We mustn’t look in Europe and South America the boy is available and what I like about the Coloured players they’re very discipline because they know where they come from and they want to better their lives and their families through soccer.
I was disturbed when We signed Antonio van Wyk where some was complaining and saying Downs is full of Coloured players,if you’re good why not irrespective of the colour of your skin.
What I like about le Roux his dribbling and fast pls guys those whom are close to our Management tell them about this player before others take him.Kby forever
We watered the pitch too much yesterday…the players couldn’t express themselves without worrying about slipping…the pitch is obviously not 100 percent grass. In fact Milford seem to cope better with the field…perhaps our footwear wasn’t the right one for the pitch…anyway we got the 3 points without playing very well…when you rotate players a lot you lose fluidity…but the coach has to make the changes due to the workload. Good luck again Arrows
Muzi member i concur with you,i watched Le Roux many time he is smart on the ball.I also have some few alternatives,Nhlahla Zwane from Arrows,he is a hard worker,creative, comfortable on the ball and can also defend,the same goes to Mosele from Chippa and they are both 26.We also need a central defender,right back and a left back who are below 28 years of age.That is my observations based on Milford game,i saw Kekana and Modiba struggling and committing too many mistakes,we were lucky not concede from their mistakes.My last advice to technical team is to give our offensive players and skillful players like Ndlovu,B Mokoena and Van Wyk freedom of expression,encourage them to have a go at the opponents rather than resticting them,sharpen what they already have than withholding it.
Modiba and mathews were wasteful